Jensen Huang founded NVIDIA in 1993 and has served since its inception as president, chief executive officer, and a member of the board of directors.

Since its founding, NVIDIA has pioneered accelerated computing. The company’s invention of the GPU in 1999 sparked the growth of the PC gaming market, redefined computer graphics, and ignited the era of modern AI. NVIDIA is now driving the platform shift of accelerated computing and generative AI, transforming the world’s largest industries and profoundly impacting society.

Huang has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering and is a recipient of the Semiconductor Industry Association’s highest honor, the Robert N. Noyce Award; the IEEE Founder’s Medal; the Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award; and honorary doctorate degrees from Taiwan’s National Chiao Tung University, National Taiwan University, and Oregon State University. He has been named the world’s best CEO by Fortune, the Economist, and Brand Finance, as well as one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people.

Prior to founding NVIDIA, Huang worked at LSI Logic and Advanced Micro Devices. He holds a BSEE degree from Oregon State University and an MSEE degree from Stanford University.

Dev Patel is a British actor. He began his career playing Anwar Kharral in the E4 teen drama Skins (2007). His breakthrough came with the leading role of teenager Jamal Malik in Danny Boyle’s drama Slumdog Millionaire (2008), for which Patel was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Patel’s career expanded with leading roles in the comedy-dramas The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015), the science fiction thriller Chappie (2015), and a supporting role in the HBO series The Newsroom (2012–2014). For his performance as Saroo Brierley in the drama Lion (2016), Patel won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He subsequently starred in the independent films Hotel Mumbai (2018), The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019), and The Green Knight (2021), and made his directorial debut with the action film Monkey Man (2024).

Anish Melwani is the Chairman and CEO, LVMH for North America. In this role, he oversees and coordinates the activities of the LVMH Group across 75+ Maisons.  He sits on the board of directors for Fresh, Marc Jacobs, Colgin Cellars, Starboard Cruise Services and Tiffany & Co.

Prior to joining LVMH in 2015, he was a Senior Partner in the New York Office of McKinsey and Company where he co-led the Global Strategy & Corporate Finance practice and supported clients across industries. At McKinsey since 1999, he counseled senior executives of leading global companies on issues related to corporate strategy, M&A, alliances, portfolio management and organization. He worked in McKinsey’s Singapore and Hong Kong offices and was then relocated to the New York office, where he advised leaders of public sector institutions in New York City.

Mr. Melwani is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Board of the United Way of New York City where he serves on the Marketing Committee, and the National Retail Federation’s Board of Directors. He holds a BA in Economics from Harvard University.

Rachell Marie Hofstetter, better known as Valkyrae, is an American live streamer and YouTuber. She is a co-owner of the gaming organization 100 Thieves and has been YouTube’s most-watched female streamer since 2020.

Hofstetter began streaming on Twitch in 2015. She had her breakthrough by playing the competitive online game Fortnite in 2018 and joined 100 Thieves as their first female content creator. In 2020, she switched streaming platforms by signing an exclusive contract with YouTube. Later that year, she saw significant follower growth and reached her peak viewership when playing the online social deduction game Among Us, which led to her winning the Game Award for “Content Creator of the Year” and the Streamy Award for best live streamer. She was also named “Gaming Creator of the Year” by Adweek in 2021 and was included on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in 2022.

In the wake and aftermath of the devastating August 2023 wildfires in Lahaina, Maui, first responders and community members continue to act selflessly and heroically to rebuild Lahaina and support its residents. Their strength and resilience are not only uplifting the community in a time of great need but also inspiring the world to work together to power tomorrow for all.

Bang Si-Hyuk, the visionary founder and Chairman of HYBE, has been at the forefront of bringing innovation to the music industry and shaping the future of entertainment. Since founding Big Hit Entertainment in 2005, later rebranded to HYBE, he has spearheaded expansion and advancement of the company with his business acumen, steering the company towards its vision of becoming “the world’s best entertainment lifestyle platform company based on music”. Also known as “Hitman” Bang, his creative persona, Chairman Bang boasts over three decades of experience as a songwriter and producer, and relentlessly develops unique artists to meet the latest industry standards. With his canny strategies and forward-thinking vision, he is constantly pushing the boundaries of HYBE and entertainment across regions—establishing and expanding HYBE Japan, HYBE America and HYBE Latin America— and mediums—developing new ways to bring music closer to people’s lives through solution providers that create new thriving businesses in media content, IP, games and more.

Producer, director, talk show host and an entrepreneur – Karan Johar is one of the most notable Indian filmmakers today with the honor of being a Padma Shri awardee. The multi-faceted Karan wears many caps with ease. Besides being an acclaimed director in the Indian film industry for the past 25 years and one of the most influential men today – Karan is also a television personality, a talk show host and a mentor to new talents across the spectrum. His talk show ‘Koffee With Karan’ has the distinction of being the most watched English talk show on Indian television and is now ruling over the OTT space as well. In addition to personal success and accomplishment, Karan Johar has also been a mentor to many successful directors in India. Directors have flourished under his guidance and support as a producer, releasing both commercial blockbusters like Agneepath, Dostana and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Shershaah (a national award winning film) & the recent blockbuster, Brahmastra – as well as critical successes like Wake Up Sid, Kapoor & Sons & Gehraiyaan. Marking his 25th anniversary year as a director, he released his directorial ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ which within thirty days of its release became the highest grossing romantic-comedy Hindi film overseas.

He also successfully built three branches of the Dharma empire – Dharmatic Entertainment, Dharma 2.0 and Dharma Cornerstone Agency. 

The name Karan Johar is synonymous with prestige, elegance, versatility and success. He is amongst a prolific group of Indian filmmakers who have brought about a fresh and modern outlook to Indian commercial cinema and has contributed greatly to the transformation of Hindi cinema from his very first film.

Lucy Liu is a critically acclaimed actress who has starred in film, television and on Broadway. Most recently, Liu was seen in Disney’s STRANGE WORLD, alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, Gabrielle Union and Dennis Quaid, and also starred in the highly-anticipated Warner Bros/DCEU sequel, SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS, as the God Kalypso, opposite Helen Mirren and Zachary Levi. Next she will be seen in Netflix’s limited series A MAN IN FULL opposite Diane Lane and Jeff Daniels, and recently wrapped production on Amazon’s holiday adventure film RED ONE, opposite Dawyne Johnson and Chris Evans.

In 2019, Liu starred in the dark comedic series, WHY WOMEN KILL, created by Marc Cherry. An anthology series for CBS All Access and Imagine Television Studios, the show examined how the roles of women have changed over the course of many decades, but how their reaction to betrayal has not. Liu also recently lent her voice to the “The Duel,” the first episode of the Disney+ series STAR WARS: VISIONS, and appeared in CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, and Netflix’s DEATH TO 2021.

For seven seasons, Liu starred in the highly praised drama series ELEMENTARY on CBS as “Dr. Joan Watson” alongside Jonny Lee Miller as “Sherlock Holmes”. In 2013, Liu’s portrayal of Watson earned her a Teen Choice Award. Liu can also be seen on Hulu’s third season of DIFFICULT PEOPLE.

In 2012, Liu joined the cast of the critically acclaimed series SOUTHLAND, produced by John Wells, starring Michael Cudlitz, Regina King and Ben McKenzie. Her portrayal of “Officer Jessica Tang” won a 2012 Critics’ Choice Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series and a 2013 NAACP nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Liu was nominated for the NAACP award for Outstanding Actress for her starring role in the December 2010 Lifetime Network romantic comedy, MARRY ME. Liu also appeared as the unforgettable “Ling Woo” in the hit Fox series, ALLY MCBEAL, a role for which she earned an Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She has also appeared in starring roles on the hit series CASHMERE MAFIA and DIRTY SEXY MONEY.

Liu stars in the Netflix rom-com hit film, SET IT UP, co-starring Taye Diggs, Glenn Powell and Zoey Deutch, directed by Claire Scanlon. Previous films include: CHARLIE’S ANGELS, CHARLIE’S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE, KILL BILL, CHICAGO, LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN, THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS, DETACHMENT, EAST FIFTH BLISS, SOMEDAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU and many others.

Liu voices the role of Lady Sagami in the 2015 Academy Award Nominated film The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, produced by Frank Marshall and directed by Jamie Simone from an adaptation by Mike Jones. Variety calls the film a “visionary tour de force”. Liu is also the voice of “Viper” in the trilogy for Paramount’s animated smash hit KUNG FU PANDA and as “Silvermist” in Tinkerbell’s LEGEND OF THE NEVERBEAST.

As director, Liu debuted in 2014 with ELEMENTARY, and has completed seven episodes since. Other series include the Season 2 Premiere episode of Netflix and Marvel’s LUKE CAGE, USA’s drama GRACELAND, LAW & ORDER: SVU and WHY WOMEN KILL. In 2006, the critically acclaimed film FREEDOM’S FURY premiered at The Tribeca Film Festival, marking Liu’s debut as a producer. She has also produced the short documentary, REDLIGHT as well as co-directed and produced, a short docu-drama, MEENA, based on a chapter from the New York Times bestseller, HALF THE SKY by authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

Liu, a Board of Trustee member for the American Theatre Wing, made her Broadway debut in March 2010, in the Tony Award-winning play GOD OF CARNAGE, starring as “Annette” in a cast that included Jeff Daniels, Dylan Baker and Janet McTeer. Liu is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

In 2006, Liu was awarded a Women’s World Award for her outstanding humanitarian work, presented to her by former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and sponsored by the World Award organization headed by former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev. Other recognitions of her humanitarian work include the 2008 Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award and the 2016 Harvard Artist of the Year Award given by the Harvard Foundation for her involvement with UNICEF and her body of work.

Additional accolades honoring her work include a 2012 New York Women in Film & Television Muse Award, the prestigious Best Drama Actress Award at the Seoul International Drama Awards in 2013 and three People’s Choice Award nominations. In 2019, Liu was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Padma Lakshmi is an Emmy-nominated producer, television host, food expert, and a New York Times best-selling author and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People (2023).

She is the creator of the critically acclaimed and Emmy nominated Hulu series “Taste the Nation”, which is the recipient of a James Beard Foundation Award top prize in Visual Media – Long Form. Lakshmi served as host and executive producer for 19 seasons of Bravo’s two-time Emmy-winning series “Top Chef”, which has been nominated for 47 Emmys, including her five-time nomination for Outstanding Host for A Reality-Competition Program.

Lakshmi is co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America (EFA) and an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Artist Ambassador for immigrants’ rights and women’s rights. Lakshmi was also appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

She established herself as a food expert early in her career, hosting two successful cooking shows: “Padma’s Passport”, and “Planet Food” and writing the best-selling Easy Exotic, which won the Best First Book award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Lakshmi followed this with the publication of her second cookbook, Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet and her memoir The New York Times best-selling Love, Loss and What We Ate. She later published The Encyclopedia of Spices & Herbs. In August of 2021 she published her first children’s book Tomatoes for Neela which was also a New York Times bestseller.

Additionally, Lakshmi is a visiting scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She has received the 2018 Karma Award from Variety, the 2016 NECO Ellis Island Medal of Honor, as well as a TIME Impact Award in 2023. Just when she thought her modeling days were behind her, she graced the pages of Sports Illustrated Magazine’s Swimsuit Edition in 2023.

The Billboard Gold Music Honor recognizes boundary-pushing musical accomplishments that redefine cultural narratives.

As a dynamic powerhouse, Saweetie continues to solidify herself as a multifaceted artist with her chart-topping songs, successful collaborations, philanthropic endeavors, and captivating on-screen performances. Born Diamonté Harper in Northern California, Saweetie was raised in a multi-ethnic household with her father being of African-American descent and her mother being of Filipino-Chinese descent. Saweetie was exposed to a wide range of music genres, which would later influence her own sound and identity as a trailblazer for young, culturally diverse individuals around the world. After attending USC and earning a Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Saweetie began to focus on her music career. Since then, Saweetie has accumulated over 5.4 billion career streams from her chart-topping hits such as the RIAA certified platinum “Tap In” and 4x platinum “My Type” and “Best Friend,” featuring Doja Cat, which also earned two GRAMMY® Award nominations. In addition to numerous awards and accolades in the music space, Saweetie has also launched her own jewelry line “ICY” while also solidifying herself as a global brand through her brand partnerships and campaigns with companies such as McDonald’s, MAC, Crocs, Quay, Revlon, Champion, and PrettyLittleThing to name a few. With a comprehensive portfolio spanning so many different avenues, Saweetie’s global influence continues to grow with each subsequent project.

The Gold Ally Honor recognizes multicultural leaders committed to progressing culture for all.

Cynthia Erivo (born 8 January 1987) is an English actress and singer. She gained recognition for starring in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple from 2015 to 2017, for which she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Erivo ventured into films in 2018, playing roles in the heist film Widows and the thriller Bad Times at the El Royale. For her portrayal of American abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the biopic Harriet (2019), Erivo received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress; she also wrote and performed the song “Stand Up” on its soundtrack, which garnered her a nomination in the Best Original Song category.

On television, Erivo had her first role in the British series Chewing Gum (2015). She went on to star in the crime drama miniseries The Outsider (2020), and received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for her portrayal of American singer Aretha Franklin in National Geographic’s anthology series Genius: Aretha (2021).

Erivo is set to portray Elphaba in a two-part film adaptation of the musical Wicked. She is attached to produce and star in the science fiction film Blink Speed and a film adaptation of the podcast Carrier, reprising the role of Raylene. Erivo will star in the film adaptation of Prima Facie.

The Gold Generation Honor recognizes an Asian Pacific figure whose impact continues to be felt across generations.

The Gold Icon Honor recognizes a transformational moment for the Asian Pacific community.

Beef is an American comedy-drama television miniseries created by Korean-American director Lee Sung Jin for Netflix. It stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as Danny Cho and Amy Lau, two strangers whose involvement in a road rage incident escalates into a prolonged feud. Appearing in supporting roles are Joseph Lee, Young Mazino, David Choe, and Patti Yasutake.

The ten-episode series was released on Netflix on April 6, 2023, to acclaim from critics who praised Yeun’s and Wong’s performances, as well as the writing and directing. At the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, it received eight wins, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and acting wins for Yeun and Wong.^[2] At the 81st Golden Globe Awards, it won in all three of its nominated categories, including Best Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film.

Ajay Banga began his five-year term as World Bank Group President on June 2, 2023.

Ajay Banga most recently served as Vice Chairman at General Atlantic. Previously, he was President and CEO of Mastercard, a global organization with nearly 24,000 employees. Under his leadership, Mastercard launched the Center for Inclusive Growth, which advances equitable and sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion around the world. He was Honorary Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, serving as Chairman from 2020-2022. He became an advisor to General Atlantic’s climate-focused fund, BeyondNetZero, at its inception in 2021. Banga served as Co-Chair of the Partnership for Central America, a coalition of private organizations that works to advance economic opportunity across underserved populations in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. He was previously on the Boards of the American Red Cross, Kraft Foods, and Dow Inc.

Ajay Banga is a co-founder of The Cyber Readiness Institute and was Vice Chair of the Economic Club of New York. He was awarded the Foreign Policy Association Medal in 2012, the Padma Shri Award by the President of India in 2016, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and the Business Council for International Understanding’s Global Leadership Award in 2019, and the Distinguished Friends of Singapore Public Service Star in 2021.

Digital content creator and actor on the rise, Alan Chikin Chow has conquered the charts with the #1 most-viewed YouTube Channel in the US with 25.4+ million subscribers. While being listed on both Forbes Top Creators 2023 and 30 under 30: Social Media, Alan has a dedicated fanbase and has amassed over 30 million followers along with 20 billion views across platforms. In addition, his YouTube Shorts are poised in the Top 50 Most Viewed charts on a weekly basis. On the speaking front, Alan has presented at YouTube’s NewFront as their #1 Shorts Creator generating 1 billion monthly average views, along with presenting in front of major brands and high-level advertising execs scoring an interview with Adobe’s CMO. Alan has maintained partnerships with the following brands: Max (formally HBO MAX), McDonald’s, and Old Spice. On the acting front, Alan has guest starred as Henry on ABC’s critically acclaimed “Grey’s Anatomy,” and as Sal Dang on “Millennial Mafia.” Honorable acting mentions include ABC’s “Home Economics” and Hulu’s “Into the Dark”, along with two cameos in the “Mean Girls” (2024) film.

ALBERT KIM
Albert Kim is a prolific and accomplished TV writer and producer.

Most recently, Kim served as the showrunner, executive producer and developer of the live-action series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which was released on February 22 on Netflix. The show quickly became the platform’s number one and most-watched title, garnering 21.2 million views in its first four days. Based on the beloved 2005 Nickelodeon animated series of the same name, ATLA follows Aang as he trains to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar and bring peace to a world that has been decimated by a war waged by the Fire Nation. The series is a groundbreaking achievement in Asian and Indigenous representation and cutting-edge VFX technology.

Prior to ATLA, Kim experienced success as an executive producer and showrunner on FOX’s Sleepy Hollow and as a writer and co-executive producer on the CW’s Nikita.

Kim started his career as an award-winning journalist, whose work was published in such national magazines as Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, People, Time, and Esquire. He is also a leader in diversity efforts in media, working closely with organizations like CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment), AAJA (Asian American Journalists Association), and AAWW (Asian American Writers’ Workshop). In 2001, he created a sportswriting internship program in conjunction with the Associated Press Sports Editors to encourage minority college students to pursue careers in sports journalism.

Kim currently resides in Los Angeles.

GORDON CORMIER
Gordon Cormier is definitely an actor to keep an eye out for. He was born in Vancouver, Canada. Cormier has been interested in the performing arts from an early age. He has always enjoyed being on stage. Cormier started performing in an acting, singing, and dancing class from the age of 6. He auditioned for his first TV commercial at the age of 9. Cormier booked a few commercials; then for the next year or so he started auditioning for smaller TV roles all the while attending Vancouver Young Acting School in Vancouver. Cormier started booking the smaller TV roles that were shooting locally around the lower mainland like Lost in Space, Gabby Durran, Get Shorty, and Turner & Hooch and worked on a couple of Hallmark movies. Cormier then auditioned for the Stephen King limited mini series The Stand. He booked the recurring role of Joe where he got to work along side of great actors like Whoopi Goldberg, James Marsden, Jovan Adepo, and Amber Heard. Cormier has also got to enjoy doing voice acting for TV animations as well. Cormier’s next big move was booking a lead role as Aang in the Netflix live-action series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cormier is looking forward to a great future in the TV and movie industry. When Cormier is not acting, you will more than likely find him at a local skateboard park or skating around Vancouver streets and local municipalities. Cormier is very passionate and committed about the things he chooses to do with his life.

DALLAS LIU
Actor on the rise Dallas Liu is quickly becoming one to watch in the entertainment industry through the diverse and dynamic characters he has brought to life on screen. In 2024 Liu stars in Netflix’s highly anticipated live-action adaptation of the beloved animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. Liu appears as the iconic Prince Zuko, along with a star-studded cast that includes Daniel Dae Kim, Paul Sun-Hyung, Ken Leung, and Elizabeth Yu. The series follows Aang, the young Avatar, as he learns to master the four elements (Water, Earth, Fire, and Air) to restore balance to a world threatened by the terrifying Fire Nation. Avatar: The Last Airbender debuted worldwide on Netflix on February 22, 2024. In film, Liu appeared as Ruihua alongside Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh and Ben Kingsley in Disney and Marvel’s blockbuster superhero feature film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021). The movie garnered a slew of award nominations including an Oscar nomination, while raking in over $432 million globally at the box office. On the television front, Liu was recently seen on the critically acclaimed and award-nominated Hulu comedy series PEN15. Executive produced by Andy Samberg and created by actors, Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, the show was set in the year 2000 and follows two seventh-grade girls, Maya Ishii-Peters (Erskine) and Anna Kone (Konkle). Liu was a scene stealer as Maya’s older brother, Shuji Ishii-Peters, with BuzzFeed praising his performance – “[Shuji] is perfectly played by Dallas Liu.” Liu also starred opposite Stella Hudgens as Taylor King in the Snapchat young-adult drama series, Players, which followed students at an elite Los Angeles high school.

Beginning his motorsport journey at the age of eight, Alex started racing in the Honda Cadet class and quickly rose through the ranks, winning multiple titles along the way. He became a multiple champion at both the British and European levels, including claiming both the CIK-FIA World Cup and CIK-FIA European Championship in 2010 in the KF3 category.

Alex graduated to single-seaters in 2012, spending three seasons competing in Formula Renault 2.0 and claiming a best finish of third overall in the 2014 Eurocup category. He subsequently stepped up to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in 2015, finishing seventh overall and stepping on to the podium five times. A move to the GP3 Series followed for 2016, with Alex narrowly missing out on the title, ending the year runner-up to Charles Leclerc, having achieved four wins and seven podium finishes.

Two consecutive years in FIA Formula 2 saw Alex claim third in the championship in 2018, only beaten by George Russell and Lando Norris. That precipitated a move into Formula One, with Alex drafted into Scuderia Toro Rosso for 2019. A number of eye-catching performances saw him promoted to Red Bull Racing after just 12 races, where he remained for 2020, scoring two podium finishes and finishing the season seventh overall.

For 2021, Alex was named as Red Bull Racing’s Reserve Driver. He combined the role with a full campaign in the DTM, where he finished sixth overall.

In 2022, Alex took on the role of Race Driver for Williams Racing, marking his third season racing in Formula One. During the 2022 season, Alex impressed the team with stand-out performances, including his debut points-scoring race in Melbourne, in addition to placing 9th in Miami and 10th in Belgium.

Williams Racing announced during the 2022 season that Alex will remain part of the driver line-up for the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship and beyond.

Alex had a standout 2023 season finishing 13th place in the Drivers’ Championship scoring 27 points and helping the team secure seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship. He made the top 10 seven times in grands prix with impressive P7 performances in Montreal and Monza and scoring in the Qatar sprint race.

2024 marks Alex’s third year racing for Williams Racing, alongside American driver Logan Sargeant.

Alex Norström is Spotify’s Co-President & Chief Business Officer. As Spotify’s Chief Business Officer, Alex oversees the subscriber and advertising businesses and all licensed, distributed, and owned content on the platform across music, podcasts, and audiobooks. Alex has responsibility for marketing, global markets, partnerships, licensing, payments, and customer service. Alex was previously Spotify’s Chief Freemium Business Officer and prior to that Vice President of Growth and Vice President of Subscriptions. Prior to joining Spotify in 2011, Alex was Chief New Business Officer at King.com Ltd. He was a member of the board of directors of Circle from 2016 through December 2019. Alex holds a Master of Science in Business & Economics with a Major in Finance from the Stockholm School of Economics.

ALEXANDER WOO
Alexander Woo is a playwright, screenwriter, and writer and producer for television, currently working with Netflix as co-creator and executive producer of 3 Body Problem. Previously, he was co-creator and executive producer of The Terror: Infamy. He also served as a writer and Executive Producer on True Blood, earning an Emmy nomination, two Golden Globe nominations, a WGA nomination, and two NAACP Image nominations. His other staff credits include Manhattan, Sleeper Cell, and Wonderfalls . In film, he co-wrote the screen adaptation of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. His stage plays include the New York Times-acclaimed Forbidden City Blues, In the Sherman Family Wax Museum, and Debunked. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, children, and two internet-famous cats.

BENEDICT WONG
Benedict Wong is a British actor. He is known for his roles as Kublai Khan in Netflix’s Marco Polo (2014-2016), Bruce Ng in The Martian (2015), and Wong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Doctor Strange (2016). Wong was born on 3 July 1971 in Eccles, Greater Manchester, the son of Hong Kong immigrant parents who had traveled through Ireland before settling in England. He was brought up in Eccles and attended Salford City College (then called De La Salle Sixth Form College) in the surrounding area of Salford. He then took a two-year performing arts course at Salford City College.

JESS HONG
Jess Hong is a New Zealander of Chinese descent, who is making her mark in the world of television, film, and theatre. Hong can currently be seen in Netflix’s highly anticipated series, 3 Body Problem, from acclaimed showrunners and creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (Games of Thrones) and Alexander Woo (True Blood). In the show, which is based on the beloved book series by Liu Cixin, Hong leads the cast as physicist, Jin Cheng.

Hong also has a lead role in the horror movie Grafted, which will be distributed by Mr. Smith International Entertainment. Other credits include, My Life is Murder, The Brokenwood Mysteries, and sci-fi series Creamerie. Before these projects, Hong trained at Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School.

Her short film credits include lead roles in Red Envelopes, Baggage, and Got Milk, which she also directed as part of Toi Whakaari’s Festival Work in Development. Jess has appeared on stage as both an actor and a dancer, with lead roles in Romeo and Juliet, performed at Auckland’s Pop-Up Globe, An Organ of Soft Tissue, and 48 Nights on Hope Street.

ZINE TSENG
Zine Tseng is an Asian actress who can be seen in her breakout debut starring as the protagonist Ye Wenjie in GOT creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ sci-fi drama, 3 Body Problem, for Netflix. Helmed by Oscar-nominated director Derek Tsang, the series premiered at SXSW and is an adaptation of Chinese author Liu Cixin’s sci-fi acclaimed trilogy, The Three-Body Problem, the story of humanity’s first contact with an alien civilization. Also with a premiere at this year’s SXSW, Zine can be seen starring in Jean Liu’s comedy short film Learning English.

ROSALIND CHAO
Upcoming, Rosalind Chao will be seen in Netflix’s 3 Body Problem from creators David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo. Chao stars alongside Benedict Wong, Jovan Adepo, Liam Cunningham, John Bradley and Zine Tseng, who plays the past version of Chao’s Ye Wenjie an astrophysicist prodigy. A fateful decision in 1960s China echoes across space and time to a group of scientists in the present, forcing them to face humanity’s greatest threat. Netflix is slated to release the series on March 21, 2024.

Chao is best known for her role as Rose in Wayne Wang’s The Joy Luck Club, where she co-stars with Tsai Chin, Kieu Chinh, Lisa Lu, France Nuyen, Lauren Tom, Tamlyn Tomita, and Ming-Na Wen. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Amy Tan and follows the relationships between Chinese-American women and their Chinese immigrant mothers.

Chao was most recently seen in Nicole Beckwith’s Together Together opposite Patti Harrison and Ed Helms. The film premiered at Sundance in 2021. That year, Chao was also seen in The Starling alongside Melissa McCarthy, Chris O’Dowd and Timothy Olyphant, which was released by Netflix.

Last year, Chao guest starred in season two of Netflix series Sweet Tooth and will return as a series regular for the third and final season. Previously, Chao was seen in Disney’s live action Mulan.

Alexandr Wang is the founder and CEO of Scale AI, the data platform accelerating the development of artificial intelligence. Alex founded Scale as a student at MIT at the age of 19 to help companies build long-term AI strategies with the right data and infrastructure. Under Alex’s leadership, Scale has grown to a $7.3bn valuation serving hundreds of customers across industries from finance to model builders to U.S. government agencies.

Actor, producer, entrepreneur, and environmentalist; Alia Bhatt is a true multi-hyphenate.

As an actor, she has brought depth and gravitas to a host of characters that demonstrated her versatility and panache. Her award-winning performances include Highway, Udta Punjab, Raazi, Dear Zindagi, Gully Boy (which premiered at the Berlinale), and Gangubai Kathiawadi (which premiered at the Berlinale, and for which she received her first National Award).

As a producer, her first film, Darlings, became the second most watched non-English content on Netflix worldwide for two weeks. She followed it up with the widely acclaimed Amazon Prime Video series Poacher, directed by Emmy-winning director Richie Mehta and produced by QC, Richie Mehta and Alia Bhatt.

As an entrepreneur, she created Ed-a-Mamma, a sustainable brand for children to instill a love of nature in them.

She has managed a rare balance between critical acclaim and box office love. In the last three years alone, every theatrical release of hers has featured in the top ten films of the year by box office.

She made her Hollywood debut last year with Heart of Stone.

She is the first Indian actor to be the global brand ambassador for luxury fashion house, Gucci. She is also the first to be featured in Mandarin Oriental’s global campaign, “I’m a Fan.”

Alia is among the top five Instagram accounts in India. She is a recipient of the TIME 100 Impact Award and has featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30, as well as the Fortune list of 50 Most Powerful Women in Indian business.

Alok Vaid-Menon (they/them), author, poet, comedian, and public speaker, delves into trauma, belonging, and the human condition through their signature mixed-media artistry. Alok’s literary works “Beyond the Gender Binary,” “Femme in Public,” and “Your Wound, My Garden,” have garnered global recognition. Their dynamic presence has captivated audiences in over 40 countries, with sold-out shows at venues including Edinburgh Fringe Festival and London Soho Theatre, and headlining numerous Just For Laughs Festivals.

In May 2024, Alok is slated to take center stage at the Netflix is a Joke Festival. The docu-short “ALOK,” which made its debut at Sundance, follows Alok’s compelling performances in the films “Absolute Dominion” and “Complicated Order,” coupled with their roles in television series like “SORT OF” and “Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne.”

Alok’s relentless advocacy for LGBTQ rights and the dismantling of traditional fashion norms have garnered them accolades including the ACLU Centennial Bill of Rights Award. As the visionary behind #DeGenderFashion and the Creative Partner for UGG’s eagerly anticipated 2024 collection, they are pioneering a transformative era in fashion. Their leadership is paving the way for a fashion industry that celebrates unbridled personal expression, championing a culture of inclusivity and the celebration of unique identities.

Ambassador Katherine Tai was sworn in as the 19th United States Trade Representative on March 18, 2021. As a member of the President’s Cabinet, Ambassador Tai is the principal trade advisor, negotiator, and spokesperson on U.S. trade policy.

Prior to her unanimous Senate confirmation, Ambassador Tai spent most of her career in public service focusing on international economic diplomacy, monitoring, and enforcement. She previously served as Chief Trade Counsel and Trade Subcommittee Staff Director for the House Ways and Means Committee in the United States Congress. In this capacity, Ambassador Tai played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. trade law, negotiations strategies, and bilateral and multilateral agreements, including the recently re-negotiated United-States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Ambassador Tai is an experienced World Trade Organization (WTO) litigator. She previously developed and tried cases for the Office of the United States Trade Representative, eventually becoming the Chief Counsel for China Trade Enforcement. Before transitioning to federal service, she practiced law in the private sector, clerked for district judges, and taught English in Guangzhou, China.

Ambassador Tai earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Yale University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. She is fluent in Mandarin.

Anand Kini is Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy, Comcast Corporation and Chief Financial Officer for NBCUniversal. In this role, Kini works across the corporation to help drive the company’s global growth strategy. As NBCUniversal CFO, Kini oversees the Finance and Strategy functions across the company, including the Media, Studio, and Theme Park divisions.

Kini joined NBCUniversal in 2011 from Comcast Cable, where he served as Senior Vice President of Finance, leading forecasting, budgeting, strategic planning, and business analytics.  Prior to that, he worked at Activision Blizzard and Disney in a variety of Finance and Strategy management roles.

Kini serves on the Board of Directors for the Harvard Business School Club of New York City, which engages alumni to make a difference in the local community.  He also serves on the Founders Council of Cradles to Crayons, a non-profit providing clothing essentials for children and seeking to expand into New York.

Kini graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. in Economics and received his M.B.A with High Distinction from Harvard Business School.

Anish Melwani is the Chairman and CEO, LVMH for North America. In this role, he oversees and coordinates the activities of the LVMH Group across 75+ Maisons.  He sits on the board of directors for Fresh, Marc Jacobs, Colgin Cellars, Starboard Cruise Services and Tiffany & Co.

Prior to joining LVMH in 2015, he was a Senior Partner in the New York Office of McKinsey and Company where he co-led the Global Strategy & Corporate Finance practice and supported clients across industries. At McKinsey since 1999, he counseled senior executives of leading global companies on issues related to corporate strategy, M&A, alliances, portfolio management and organization. He worked in McKinsey’s Singapore and Hong Kong offices and was then relocated to the New York office, where he advised leaders of public sector institutions in New York City.

Mr. Melwani is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Board of the United Way of New York City where he serves on the Marketing Committee, and the National Retail Federation’s Board of Directors. He holds a BA in Economics from Harvard University.

Anita Lee, TIFF’s Chief Programming Officer, boasts a distinguished 25-year career in the media industry, guiding strategic initiatives for TIFF and the TIFF Lightbox. Her extensive background includes serving as the Executive Producer and Studio Head of NFB Ontario, where she shaped the programmatic vision of Canada’s award-winning public agency in Toronto.

Under Lee’s leadership at NFB Ontario, the studio evolved into an international powerhouse in documentary film, digital media, and creative technology, earning prestigious accolades such as the TIFF People’s Choice Award, Toronto Critics Prize, New York’s Critics Prize, two Peabody awards, Emmy and Webby awards, Dupont Columbia award, the Japan Prize, and Oscar shortlists. Notably, she recently clinched the 2023 Canadian Screen Award for Best Feature Length Documentary for To Kill a Tiger.

Lee’s producing prowess is highlighted by the critically acclaimed film, Stories We Tell, by Sarah Polley. In 1997, she founded the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, serving as its Executive Director and Director of Programming. Her commitment to the festival was recognized in 2021 with the Anita Lee Firehorse Award for changemakers.

Beyond film, Lee is a pioneer in digital media, establishing NFB’s principal DOC VR Lab in Toronto and steering the studio’s digital strategy for production and distribution. Her dedication to diversity is evident in NFB Ontario’s equity strategy, spotlighting racially diverse talent and showcasing high-profile works by BIPOC directors globally.

Lee’s impact extends to her 10-year chairmanship of the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival board. She received the WIFT Mentorship Award in 2022 and the Dream Tree Award for elevating the profiles of Korean Canadians. As a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences since 2016, Anita Lee remains a transformative force, shaping and advancing the Canadian film industry through her leadership and innovation.

Ann Young Lee co-founded CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) in 2019 with Sean Penn, evolving from Penn’s J/P HRO which was established immediately following the 2010 Haiti earthquake. She counts her seven years living in Haiti as a foundational period that underpins CORE’s ethos – one that is focused on building resilience and led by local communities. Serving as CEO since 2016, Lee transformed CORE into an international NGO focused on emergency response, preparedness and community building. With over two decades of experience in the humanitarian sector, her expertise spans crisis relief, urban planning, community development, infrastructure, and livelihoods. Under Lee’s leadership, CORE responds to crises globally, notably including the Ukraine War, COVID-19 Pandemic, Turkey Earthquake and Pakistan Floods, among many other natural and man-made disasters.

Lee oversees a diverse team of nearly 400 global humanitarian staff dedicated to supporting vulnerable communities in and beyond crises. Prior to joining CORE, she worked as the lead on urban humanitarian response for the UN Secretary General’s World Humanitarian Summit. Lee holds a Master’s in Urban Planning from NYU and a Master’s in Economics & Conflict Management from Johns Hopkins University SAIS. She received the Truman Award in 2009 from the Society for International Development and has been profiled in TIME, ABC News, AP, CNN and The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

ANNA SAWAI
Anna Sawai is a New Zealand-born Japanese actress, singer, and dancer. She landed her first acting role at age 11 as the title character in the 2004 Nippon TV production of Annie shortly after moving to Japan. Sawai later made her film debut as Kiriko in James McTeigue’s 2009 neo-noir martial arts film Ninja Assassin.

Sawai rose to fame in Japan as one of the lead vocalists of the girl group Faky from 2013 to 2018. She made a return to acting with supporting roles in the Japanese mystery series Colors (2018) and the British crime thriller series Giri/Haji (2019). Her international breakthrough came with the roles of Elle in F9 (2021), the ninth film in the Fast & Furious franchise, and Naomi in the Apple TV+ drama series Pachinko (2022–present). She gained further recognition for playing Cate Randa in the monster series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023–2024) and received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Mariko in the FX miniseries Shōgun (2024).

MARI YAMAMOTO
Mari Yamamoto is a Japanese actor and writer. She can currently be seen opposite Wyatt Russell in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (Apple TV+). Her past acting credits include Pachinko (Apple TV+), Kate (Netflix), Not To Be Unpleasant But We Need To Have A Serious Talk, Surfer’s Paradise and Jimami Tofu. She will soon begin shooting a starring role opposite Brendan Fraser in the Searchlight feature Rental Family.

As a writer Mari has been a correspondent for The Daily Beast, and consulted on scripts for Tokyo Vice (HBO Max) while developing her own series at Disney+ Japan. She grew up in Tokyo and London, and now lives in New York.

REN WATABE
Ren Watabe was born and raised in Tokyo. He attended an international school and after graduation, he began his career in modeling. After quitting modeling, he began to work as a part-time cook. While working in the kitchen, he received an audition for the Apple+ series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and eventually went on to book one of the series leads. The series marks both his television and U.S. debut.

Anthony Volpe is an American professional baseball shortstop for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023, winning the American League Gold Glove Award at shortstop in his rookie year.

Arjun Pulijal is the former President of Capitol Music Group, overseeing all areas of artist development which includes creative, marketing, and operations. Joining the company in 2013 as Director of Marketing, he was promoted to Vice President in 2017 and SVP, Head of Marketing in 2019. His long roster of artists includes Paul McCartney, Beck, Sam Smith, Maggie Rogers, Doechii, Toosii, ABBA, Lewis Capaldi, Masego, Norah Jones, Nine Inch Nails, Queen Naija, and many more.

A veteran in the music industry, Pulijal spent seven years at Epic Records in New York prior to joining Capitol. He first started in A&R before diving into publicist and digital, eventually becoming Marketing Director in 2009.

ARVIND KC
Arvind KC is a seasoned technology executive with over 25 years of experience in leading internal product development teams. His expertise in IT, InfoSec, and internal engineering has been honed at globally recognized companies like Google, Facebook, Roblox, and Palantir. Currently, as the Chief People and Systems Officer at Roblox, KC spearheads the organization’s focus on evolving processes, systems, experiences, and culture to maximize the growth and potential of its teams and people.

KC’s career demonstrates a deep understanding of how technology empowers exceptional performance within organizations. He built a strong foundation in supply chain systems within the semiconductor industry, gaining valuable experience in optimizing complex processes. At Facebook, he honed his focus on the factors and technology that accelerate organizational excellence. Later, as CIO and head of People Operations at Palantir, he led the organization’s technology strategy and operational transformation. As VP of Engineering at Google, he oversaw the development of products that have revolutionized the way people work and collaborate.

KC’s technical and leadership acumen is grounded in his strong educational background. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the prestigious Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, and an MBA from Santa Clara University. This combination of technical expertise and business acumen has enabled him to successfully navigate the intersection of technology and people management.

Throughout his career, KC has consistently demonstrated a commitment to fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning. He is known for his ability to inspire and motivate teams, creating an environment where individuals can thrive and reach their full potential.

CHRISTINA WOOTTON
Christina Wootton serves as Chief Partnerships Officer at Roblox, leading brand partnerships, business development and education. Christina’s teams are focused on creating new ecosystems for people to express themselves through digital fashion and beauty, learn together, and experience entertainment, music and sports with their favorite brands and talent on the platform.

With more than 15 years of partnerships and digital advertising experience, Christina has been instrumental in revolutionizing how brands connect, engage and communicate with people all over the world in immersive spaces. She has spearheaded innovation and creative partnerships with Fortune 500 companies and top brands and talent including Gucci, Nike, Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros, NFL, Karlie Kloss, Elton John, among many others. Prior to Roblox, Christina led entertainment innovation and digital advertising at Stardoll Media partnering with brands to create engaging content that allowed users to customize their avatars, shop for digital fashion items and interact with the brands’ virtual characters and products.

Christina graduated from California State University, Long Beach.

SHOBZ AHLUWALIA
Shobhana (Shobz) Ahluwalia is a technology, operations, and cyber security executive with expertise in scaling high growth global companies. She is the Chief Information Office for Roblox, a virtual universe that reimagines the way people come together. Her charter at Roblox is to create frictionless solutions to unlock the highest level of productivity and innovation in the company. Her previous role as CIO at Peloton, a prominent on-demand fitness company, involved leading Security and IT to improve ERP and supply chain logistics, as well as facilitating integration with third-party selling platforms. Before that, she served as the CIO at Uber Technologies’, $80B on-demand logistics and transportation company, and was responsible for global IT operations and services. Prior to Uber Technologies, Shobhana served in leadership Information Technology roles at Rocket Fuel, CNET and CBS.

Shobhana is actively involved in the technology startup ecosystem as an investor and advisor. She is committed to supporting underrepresented communities in technology and leadership. She holds a Masters of Business Administration with a double major in Strategy and Finance from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and a Bachelor of Computer Science in Engineering from Bangalore, India.

Asad Qizilbash is Head of PlayStation Productions and Head of Product for PlayStation Studios at Sony Interactive Entertainment. Playing a key role in the formation of PlayStation Productions in 2018, Qizilbash’s deep knowledge of PlayStation IP and strong relationships with PlayStation Studios’ development teams is pivotal in bringing the PlayStation catalog to film and television in a unique way that resonates with the PlayStation community and beyond.

As Head of Product for PlayStation Studios, Qizilbash leads portfolio and strategy planning for PlayStation’s exclusive games line-up. A 15+ year Sony Interactive veteran, previously, Qizilbash was Vice President of Games Marketing where he was responsible for growing PlayStation Studios’ gaming brands into global entertainment franchises.

ASMITA DUBEY
Asmita Dubey is the Chief Digital & Marketing Officer for the L’Oréal Groupe, world leaders in beauty, with a purpose to Create the Beauty that Moves the World.

Asmita is steering the L’Oréal Groupe to lead Marketing in the Digital age by following the Groupe’s mantra ‘to seize what is starting’. This means cracking new codes of beauty in Gaming, Web3, Metaverse or with Gen AI, on one hand and on the other hand staying firmly grounded in scale & deployment of new business levers for the group, in data driven & ROI based marketing for driving short term sales as well as long term brand equity building. Asmita’s belief is that the future of beauty will be physical, digital & virtual.

Asmita has pioneered Augmented Marketing founded on a strong digital core, continuously reinventing beauty experiences for the Groupe’s 38 global brands driven by O+O+O multi-sensory journeys, data and AI – to drive responsibly the best consumer engagement with beauty. Her interest is to help build brands, by continuously reinventing beauty experiences, responsibly.

Asmita is an Indian national, with a background in economics and statistics. She began her career in the advertising industry, working in both India and China on campaigns for some of the world’s biggest FMCG brands. She joined L’Oréal in 2013, as Chief Marketing Officer for L’Oréal China, where she was responsible for laying the foundations for the Groupe’s e-commerce acceleration in China (including building the Group’s first joint-business partnerships with Alibaba and Tencent). Since then she has taken many leadership and transformational roles within the group.
Asmita also serves as a Board member of the world’s largest consumer healthcare company Haleon, as an Independent Non-Executive Director.

HAN WEN
As the Chief Digital and Marketing Officer of L’Oreal USA, Han Wen is charged with leading the Group’s digital transformation at the enterprise level, in partnership with its divisions and brands. Her scope includes putting the consumer at the heart of L’Oreal’s business, overseeing digital go-to-market-strategies, media planning and buying, spearheading marketing innovation, and creating a center of excellence in content and digital services.

Prior to this role, Han served as CDMO for L’Oréal USA’s Professional Products Division [PPD] where she led the digital transformation for the US PPD business. Han harnessed a digital and data-driven marketing approach to enable brands to reach the consumer across platforms and at every moment of the customer lifecycle during a time that was marked by a 5x increase in the Division’s ecommerce weight of business.

Han has had a long, successful career in digital. Prior to her role as CDMO for PPD US, Han served as the Global Chief Digital Officer for the L’Oréal Paris brand. Han rejoined L’Oréal after spending two years at LVMH and nearly eight years with the Clarins Groupe where she was the Group Chief Digital Officer. In this role, Han was responsible for developing and executing enterprise-level business, technology and innovation strategies.

If somebody told you Bella Poarch was actually a superhero from another planet or reality, it would be very hard to deny. What the Filipino-American pop provocateur has done in just two years since her 2021 emergence is nothing short of astounding. She went from a humble childhood on a small farm in the Philippines to serving in the U.S. Navy as a proud servicewoman responsible for helicopters and jets to unassumingly launching her TikTok in 2020. Bella’s dynamic vocals, expansive vision, unpredictable approach, and undeniable spirit transformed her into a global sensation as her debut single “Build A Bitch” made history by achieving “the biggest debut ever on YouTube for a new artist” and went RIAA platinum. In its wake, she unleashed her 2022 debut EP, Dolls. Thus far, she has gathered 2 billion streams and counting and 1 billion YouTube views as well as regularly averaging 5 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Along the way, she also garnered honors at the MTV Movie & TV Awards and Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in addition to nominations at the People’s Choice Awards. Beyond emerging as “the third most-followed creator on TikTok,” she has earned unanimous praise from Cosmopolitan, E! Online, The FADER, NME, Rolling Stone, Variety, and more. Plus, she was named to the 2022 Gold House A100 List in recognition of those who uplifted in invest in the API community and its future. Bella’s about to blast off, and she’s bringing pop music and culture with her.

Calvin is a core member of the CEO & Board Practices of Egon Zehnder, the world’s largest privately held executive search & leadership advisory firm with 69 offices in 39 countries. He has led the growth of the firm’s Global Media & Entertainment Practice to be the largest and most diverse team addressing organization, culture, team, and talent issues facing the segment.

He works with investors, boards, principals, and world leaders shaping successions, advancing governance, unlocking transformation, discovering, and developing leaders in media, entertainment, digital, sports, luxury, and other consumer & technology sectors. His clients include established companies with a genuine appetite for transformation (“disrupted”), as well as those that innovate and change consumer behavior (“disruptors”). Over the decades, he has worked equally with leaders and organizations, balancing the intersection of creativity (“creatives that operate”), business (“operators who are creative”), technology, and impact on the world. He serves as a guide in the discovery process, sounding board for decisions, partner in achieving goals, co-designer in ambitions, motivator when strong action is called for, and a wakeup call, when needed.

Prior, Calvin held leadership roles at several consulting firms, where he helped leaders drive organizational change. He began his career in civil rights enforcement and community relations. He has invested in, advised, and served on the boards of early-stage growth companies. His passions include education reform, advancing the cause of the disadvantaged, cooking, and consuming non-fiction.

Born on August 27, 1992, in Honolulu, Hawaii, Carissa Moore’s love affair with the ocean began at five, riding the waves of Waikiki with her father. Little did she know that these early experiences would set the stage for an extraordinary surfing career.

Moore excelled at NSSA junior surf competitions and quickly climbed the ranks, displaying her talent and earning top spots at the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships. She has achieved impressive success, winning 11 NSSA amateur titles and making history in 2008 as the youngest champion at a Triple Crown of Surfing event, the Reef Hawaiian Pro.

In 2010, Moore began her first season on the ASP World Tour, currently known as the World Surf League (WSL). Despite being a 17-year-old newcomer, she made a remarkable impact by winning two significant contests, finishing third overall, and earning the Rookie of the Year award.

The following years witnessed the Hawaiian’s meteoric rise in the surfing world. In her second season, she secured her first world title and became the youngest surfer to win a world title at 18. She reached legendary status over the years to follow, claiming World Tour honours four more times in 2013, 2015, 2019, and 2021.

CARLA HASSAN
Carla Hassan is the Chief Marketing Officer of JPMorgan Chase with responsibility for firmwide marketing, which includes advertising, media, performance marketing, sponsorships and talent, customer insights and analytics for the Chase, J.P. Morgan and corporate brands. She also oversees firmwide impact marketing and communications.

Prior to joining JPMorgan Chase, she was the Chief Marketing Officer of Citi, leading the marketing organization to build distinctive, impactful campaigns that differentiated the brand, accelerated digital capabilities and fueled the firm’s continued growth.

Before her role at Citi, Carla was Executive Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer of Toys “R” Us. In this capacity, she served as a member of the company’s global leadership team and oversaw the vision for the
company’s brands, marketing and media strategy, creative, marketing communications, digital marketing, CRM, Analytics, Insights and Loyalty Programs.

Prior to joining Toys “R” Us, Carla served as Senior Vice President, Brand Management for PepsiCo’s Global Beverage Group. In this role, she was responsible for driving growth on PepsiCo’s beverage portfolio across 50+
markets around the world, including leading brands Pepsi & Mountain Dew, creating new brands, and expanding Gatorade internationally.

During her 13 year tenure at PepsiCo, she held a number of strategic marketing leadership roles for Quaker and Gatorade in the US, and was Chief Marketing Officer for the company’s Middle East & Africa business based out of Dubai. Prior to that, Carla held several marketing roles at The Kellogg Company.

Carla serves on the board of the AdCouncil and the Association of National Advertisers. Carla has received several awards and recognitions throughout her career, including being named one of the World’s Most Influential CMOs
in 2021, 2022 and 2023 by Forbes Magazine, AdColor Legend in 2021 and one of Business Insider’s 31 Most Innovative Chief Marketing Officers of 2022.

SANOKE VISWANATHAN
Sanoke Viswanathan is the Chief Strategy and Growth Officer of JPMorgan Chase and Chief Executive Officer of International Consumer Banking. He is a member of the firm’s Operating Committee. Viswanathan oversees Corporate Strategy, Corporate Business Development, and a firmwide Business Accelerator, in addition to spearheading the international expansion of consumer banking activities.

Previously, Viswanathan was Chief Administrative Officer of the Corporate and Investment Bank, overseeing Technology, Operations, Data and Analytics, Artificial Intelligence Research and Emerging Technologies. He started his career in JPMorgan Chase in 2010 as head of Corporate Strategy.

Prior to joining JPMorgan Chase, Viswanathan was a partner at McKinsey & Co, and co-head of their global corporate and investment banking practice. He served financial institutions in Asia, Europe and North America on strategy, organization and risk management topics.

Viswanathan holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai.

Carla Serrano and Susie Nam lead Publicis Groupe, the world’s second-largest communications group, constantly looking at ways to reinvent old systems and structures to outperform the market and partner in clients’ business transformation. This encompasses everything from delivering on Groupe’s unique Power of One model to help brands find growth through connectivity and integration, leading Le Truc as a creative center of excellence that fuels the organization’s creative offering, and harnessing the power of artificial intelligence.

As Global Chief Strategy Officer, Publicis Groupe and CEO, Publicis NY, Carla also led the launch of Working with Cancer, a multi-company initiative that is removing the stigma of cancer from the workplace, and she drives key initiatives, including Marcel, a global AI connectivity platform which enables a stronger sense of community and supports employees’ development journeys.

As CEO of Publicis Creative U.S., Susie oversees Publicis’ renowned agency brands, including Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, Fallon, BBH, Team One, The Community, and Turner Duckworth. She is known for her ability to design agency systems and cultures that yield breakthrough ideas and best-in-class talent.

Both Carla and Susie share a passion for advancing the DE&I agenda and mentoring the next generation. Carla sits on the Publicis Groupe Diversity Progress Council and is a mentor in both the 4A’s Vanguard Program and Adweek’s Executive Mentor Program. Susie has consistently served as an executive leader, champion, and advocate for DE&I across communities, and has been honored with the Impact Award by the Asian American Federation (AAF) and named Chair of the ADCOLOR Board, the premier organization celebrating and promoting professionals of color in the creative industries.

CELINE SONG
An Academy Award nominated screenwriter, Celine Song is a filmmaker and playwright whose debut feature, Past Lives, earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Motion Picture. Loosely based on and inspired by Song’s own life experience, Past Lives, which she wrote and directed, was released by A24 in the summer of 2023 after making its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

Acclaim for Song’s debut feature Past Lives has been far and wide. The film won dozens of awards from film critics groups in the USA and abroad and won Best Feature Film at the 2023 Gotham Awards. Song and her film earned five Independent Spirit Award nominations including Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Feature, five Golden Globe nominations including Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture Drama, three BAFTA nominations including Original Screenplay and Best Picture, and two Academy Award nominations including Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture. Song also earned a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film from the Directors Guild of America.

As a playwright, Song is best known for Endlings, which premiered in 2019 at the American Repertory Theater and had its New York debut in 2020 at New York Theatre Workshop. She has been a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and a semifinalist for the American Playwriting Foundation’s Relentless Award. Song also wrote on the first season of Amazon series The Wheel of Time. 

GRETA LEE
Greta Lee is an American actress. Lee was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and is the daughter of Korean immigrants. She had supporting roles in the Netflix comedy-drama series Russian Doll (2019–present) and the Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show (2021–present). She gained prominence for her starring role in the romantic drama film Past Lives (2023), for which she received a nomination for a Golden Globe Award.

Lee began her career in theatre, making her Broadway debut in the musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2007). She starred in the 2010 revival of the comedic play La Bête on Broadway and in the West End. In 2011, she acted in the Amy Herzog play 4000 Miles at Lincoln Center Theatre.

TEO YOO
Teo Yoo is an internationally acclaimed, BAFTA nominated, German-Korean actor based in Seoul, South Korea. He is best known for his starring role in Celine Song and A24’s critically acclaimed Past Lives opposite Greta Lee and John Magaro. Previously, he starred in the Palme d’Or nominated feature, Leto, and can be seen as the male lead in Netflix’s Love to Hate You. He is currently in production on the hit Netflix series, The Recruit, opposite Noah Centineo.

Charli XCX is an English singer and songwriter. Born in Cambridge and raised in Start Hill, Essex, she began posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which led to her discovery by a promoter who invited her to perform at warehouse raves. In 2010, she signed a recording contract with Asylum Records, releasing a series of singles and mixtapes throughout 2011 and 2012.

In 2012, she rose to prominence with the Icona Pop collaboration “I Love It,” which became an international success, reaching top 10 in North America and Europe. Her debut studio album, True Romance (2013), was released to positive reception but failed to meet commercial expectations. In 2014, she contributed the hook and bridge to “Fancy” by rapper Iggy Azalea, which finished the year as one of the best-selling singles worldwide and was nominated for two Grammy Awards. The same year, she released “Boom Clap,” which became her first solo top-ten single on the Billboard Hot 100. Her second studio album, the punk-influenced Sucker (2014) was released at the end of the year, and spawned the successful singles “Break the Rules” and “Doing It.”

In 2015, she began working alongside producers associated with the UK collective PC Music, developing a more experimental sound and image. While working on her third album, she released the Vroom Vroom EP (2016) and the mixtapes Number 1 Angel and Pop 2 (both 2017), as well as a series of singles including the BPI-certified “After the Afterparty,” “Boys,” and “1999.” Her third and fourth studio albums, Charli (2019) and How I’m Feeling Now (2020), received widespread acclaim. In 2021, she co-wrote and provided vocals on the Jax Jones and Joel Corry single “Out Out.” The following year, she released her fifth album, Crash, which became her biggest commercial success to date. In 2023, she released the single “Speed Drive” as part of Barbie the Album, the soundtrack of Barbie. On April 15th, 2023, she co-headlined the Coachella Festival. In March 2024, she released the single “Von Dutch” ahead of her sixth studio album Brat.

In addition to her solo work, she has co-written songs for other artists, including Iggy Azalea’s “Beg for It” (2014), Selena Gomez’s “Same Old Love” (2015), Blondie’s “Tonight” (2017), the Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello collaboration “Señorita” (2019), and the Sigala and Rita Ora collaboration “You for Me” (2021).

Christine Chen is a Co-founder and Executive Director of Asian Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote), the leading national, nonpartisan organization engaging, educating, and empowering Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). APIAVote’s mission is to mobilize AAPI communities in electoral and civic engagement by partnering with local and state community-based organizations. Since 2007, APIAVote has built power by investing in AAPI communities’ capacity and infrastructure to mobilize voters.

Chen has championed AAPI empowerment since the start of her career. Moving to Washington, DC from Ohio, she took on organizing and leadership roles at the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) and started Strategic Alliances USA, consulting on projects like the Linsanity documentary and for the USDA on Hmong farmer outreach.

While Executive Director of OCA National from 2001-2006, Chen was a member of the executive committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, founding member of APIA Scholars, and was on numerous boards including the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans and Demos Board of Trustees. She was a Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics Resident Fellow during the 2022 spring semester. She currently serves on the Kennedy Center Community Advisory Board and the Center for Asian American Media. She is also a member of the Election Assistance and Policy (EAP) Standing Committee at the American Political Science Association.

Clara Shih is CEO of Salesforce AI. In this role, she oversees artificial intelligence efforts across the company, including product, go-to-market, growth, adoption, and ecosystem for Einstein GPT, the world’s #1 AI for CRM. Einstein GPT delivers over 1 trillion predictions and generative automations every week across Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Industry Clouds, Mulesoft, Tableau, and Slack. Previously, Clara led Salesforce Service Cloud, the world’s #1 customer service, contact center, digital service, bots, and field service solution.

A digital pioneer, Clara has been named one of Fortune’s “40 under 40” and “Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs,” Fast Company’s “Most Influential People in Technology,” and a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum. Clara is a member of the Starbucks board of directors and serves as Executive Chair of Hearsay Systems, a privately held digital software firm she founded in 2009.

She graduated #1 in computer science at Stanford University, where she also received an M.S. in computer science. She also holds an M.S. in internet studies from Oxford University, where she studied as a U.S. Marshall Scholar.

Crystal Sacca co-founded Lowercarbon Capital, the world’s leading fund for early-stage climate tech startups. At Lowercarbon, she backs companies pursuing the world’s most ambitious solutions to the climate crisis.

Crystal draws on her experience as a co-founder of Lowercase Capital, where she co-led seed deals including Uber and Blue Bottle Coffee, and her years as a globally-renowned advertising creative helping companies like Audi, Intel, Barclays, HBO, and Sprint speak to a worldwide audience with thought-provoking wit and insight.

Known as an accomplished author and designer, Crystal’s first book, The Essential Scratch & Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert, was a New York Times Bestseller and Amazon #1. Her follow-up book, The Essential Scratch & Sniff Guide to Becoming a Whiskey Know-It-All, was also a critically acclaimed bestseller.

Crystal has served on the Board of Trustees of the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. She believes in the power of design to change the world—from climate solutions and justice to diversity and inclusion and served as the Co-Chair of the museum’s Engagement and Experience Committee to see that vision through. Today, Crystal is a Trustee on the National Board of the Smithsonian Institution.

Crystal is an all-American Foreign Service, third-culture kid raised by parents who worked for the U.S. State Department. She spent her childhood in Vietnam, Mauritania, The Gambia, Swaziland, Japan, and India and graduated cum laude from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service with a B.S.F.S. majoring in Humanities and International Affairs, winning an American Foreign Service Association scholarship.

Beyond her investing, service, activism, and philanthropy, Crystal can be found designing, traveling the world, hiking, practicing yoga, playing competitive pickleball, skiing, surfing, brushing up her Muay Thai skills, fly fishing, painting, and raising three gutsy girls in the mountains of Montana.

Daniel Martin is a beauty authority and social activist with a passion for education and self-improvement. Technically-trained and highly sought-after, Daniel has more than 25 years of experience as a professional makeup artist having worked across the beauty, fashion, and entertainment industries. Daniel’s timeless approach to achieving understated, elegant, and sophisticated looks that highlight his clients’ natural beauty has won over celebrities, models, brides, editors, and industry executives alike. Daniel has been recognized for his contributions to the beauty industry as a whole, having received many accolades from his peers, in addition to being a regular contributor to leading publications. Daniel is also known for his work as a beauty educator, and has taught makeup classes and workshops around the world.

It’s through his appreciation and deep understanding of how skin types and complexions play a crucial role in the efficacy of makeup and skincare that Daniel has focused his expertise. From his early start at the MAC counter to his apprenticeship and later teaching position at Aveda, Daniel has gone on to hold various positions of great influence at internationally renowned brands such as Honest Beauty and Dior, and now serves as Global Director of Artistry & Education at Tatcha (the first-ever appointment of an Asian-American in an executive-level post within the beauty industry). Daniel’s most important role, however, is arguably that of advocate. A member of both the Asian-American and LGBTQIA communities, Daniel uses the platform his high-profile career and insider access has afforded him to help serve under-represented and marginalized groups both in the beauty industry and beyond. Daniel has worked closely with charitable organizations such as Act to Change, Room to Read, and Model Alliance in a continued effort to contribute culturally and empower others.

David Park is a Partner & Television Agent at leading global talent, entertainment, sports, and media advisory company UTA (United Talent Agency), where he represents creators, showrunners, filmmakers, writer-producers, actors, and producers. Park’s prominent client roster includes a variety of notable AAPI / API talent. In the acting space, he represents Ke Huy Quan, John Cho, Daniel Dae Kim (and his production company 3AD), Minha Kim, HYBE America, Richa Moorjani, and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Chloe Kim. Writers & directors that Park represents include Angela Kang, Steve Maeda, Helen Shang, Kate Tsang, Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, Vali Chandrasekaran, Nancy Won and Na Hong Jin, Yeon Sang Ho, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Derek Tsang, Anthony Chen, Jason Yu, Um Tae Hwa, Atsuko Hirayanagi, and Sam Ha’s BOUND Entertainment. He also reps preeminent streetwear mavens Jeff (Ng) Staple and Bobby (Kim) Hundreds.

DEBORAH YEH
Deborah Yeh is the Chief Marketing Officer for Sephora worldwide.

In her role, Deborah is responsible for supporting the company’s global community of marketers and building a Sephora brand experience that is inspiring and inclusive everywhere.

Since joining Sephora in 2012, Deborah has been instrumental in building Sephora’s reputation as a leader in beauty. In addition to supporting marketing functions such as brand strategy, media, and loyalty, Deborah also leads Purpose and sustainability efforts for the company. She is a member of the Sephora global leadership team.

Deborah is passionate about bringing Sephora’s values to life in a meaningful and authentic way for all stakeholders, and she works closely with organizations who elevate underrepresented voices in marketing and in society at large. She is an advisor to the nonprofit Act to Change, a board member at the D&I trade organization BRIDGE, and a member of the ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing.

Deborah has received notable industry recognitions such as Business Insider’s Most Innovative CMOs in the World, Forbes CMO Next, and ASCEND’s A-List of Asian Americans. She is also an independent board director for L.L. Bean.

She currently lives in Paris with her husband, two children, and two cats.

ZENA ARNOLD
Zena Srivatsa Arnold is the Sephora U.S. Chief Marketing Officer. A seasoned marketing executive, Zena is responsible for building Sephora’s brand and creating differentiated and unique marketing touchpoints – from communications, media, and creative, to loyalty, promotions and operations – that cater to Sephora’s diverse beauty community. Through her curiosity, digital expertise, and collaborative approach, Zena has garnered success in building and growing brands and driving initiatives that reach clients.

Dev Patel is a British actor. He began his career playing Anwar Kharral in the E4 teen drama Skins (2007). His breakthrough came with the leading role of teenager Jamal Malik in Danny Boyle’s drama Slumdog Millionaire (2008), for which Patel was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Patel’s career expanded with leading roles in the comedy-dramas The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015), the science fiction thriller Chappie (2015), and a supporting role in the HBO series The Newsroom (2012–2014). For his performance as Saroo Brierley in the drama Lion (2016), Patel won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He subsequently starred in the independent films Hotel Mumbai (2018), The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019), and The Green Knight (2021), and made his directorial debut with the action film Monkey Man (2024).

Divia oversees the internationally renowned luxury travel and lifestyle brand, which boasts an audience of more than 35 million across print, digital, social and video, and operates in 7 countries: US, UK, Spain, Italy, the Middle East, India and China (with Germany launching in 2024). She ran the Indian edition for 10 years before she was selected for the prestigious global role; a first for CNT or an Indian journalist. Divia’s editorial approach is to work at the intersection of travel, culture, arts, fashion, glamour, design and wellness. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania and is now based in London. She believes in the power of a good story, and that travel has the capacity to change the way we think and experience the world.

DON LIU
Don H. Liu is Executive Vice President, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary for Target. In this role, reporting directly to Target’s chairman and CEO, he oversees Target’s legal, compliance and corporate governance matters for Target.

Prior to joining Target, Mr. Liu was executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Xerox Corporation. He also held in-house legal leadership roles at Toll Brothers, IKON Office Solutions and Aetna U.S. Healthcare. He began his career in private practice, specializing in securities and mergers and acquisitions.

He currently serves on boards for Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. and Haverford College. He is a co-founder and board member of the Alliance for Asian American Justice, a nonprofit organization offering pro bono legal services to victims of anti-Asian hate. He also serves as an executive mentor for the ExCo Group and is a member of the American Law Institute and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Mr. Liu is a former board member of MoreBank (an ethnic community bank serving the Asian American community); former chairman of the board of directors of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association; former vice chair of the Asian American Diversity Advisory Council; former executive committee member of the Joint Diversity Council, Comcast Corporation; former board member of Association of Corporate Counsel; and former chair of the In-House Counsel Committee of National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Mr. Liu and his family emigrated from Korea to the U.S. in 1972. He is a graduate of Haverford College, with Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors, and Columbia University School of Law, as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

PRAT VEMANA
Prat Vemana is Executive Vice President, Chief Digital and Product Officer for Target and a member of its leadership team. He oversees Target’s digital business, including site merchandising, user experience, digital operations and product; and Target+, the retailer’s growing online third-party marketplace. Additionally, he provides key support for Target’s industry-leading product teams across the company by bringing a holistic view to the retailer’s overall product strategy.

Prat joined Target in 2022 from Kaiser Permanente, where he served as senior vice president and chief digital officer and led its enterprise product management and experience teams. During his time at the company, he accelerated its digital strategy by modernizing its platforms for greater speed and agility. His work included critical consumer experience enhancements like the redesign of the company’s mobile app and the launch of same-day home delivery for its pharmacy business. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Vemana held digital leadership positions at The Home Depot and Staples.

Prat holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from the University of Madras and a master’s in business administration in global leadership and innovation from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He serves on the board of directors for Frontier Communications.

Dylan Jadeja is the Chief Executive Officer of Riot Games and has been a member of the senior executive team at Riot Games for more than a decade. A key leader in Riot’s exponential growth and global expansion over the years, Dylan first joined Riot in 2011 as Chief Financial Officer and added Chief Operating Officer to his duties in 2014. Three years later, he was named President of Riot and in 2022 assumed leadership of Riot’s Enterprise Pillar. In May 2023, Riot announced that Dylan was selected by its Board of Directors to serve as the company’s next Chief Executive Officer. He officially stepped into the role in September 2023.

As President, Dylan oversaw Riot’s global corporate strategy and development, venture investments, legal, finance and accounting, enterprise technology and security, human resources, corporate affairs, real estate and other key operational functions. A longtime advocate for social impact and diversity & inclusion, he also spearheaded and oversees Riot’s $10 million commitment to investments in underrepresented founders in the gaming industry. In addition, Jadeja led the company’s 2015 equity sale to Tencent Holdings, Ltd.

Before hanging up his suit and tie to enter the world of gaming, Dylan was co-head of West Coast Consumer Retail Coverage for Goldman Sachs. His work with Goldman focused on financial transactions for Fortune 500 and mid-market companies.While there, Jadeja led highly successful transactions including Lululemon’s 2007 IPO and the 2010 sale of retailer Gymboree. Prior to Goldman, he began his career with Kearney Management Consulting.

Dylan received his undergraduate degree from the University of Western Ontario Richard Ivey School of Business and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Dylan is an advisor to several companies in tech and consumer products and is on the boards of the Los Angeles Food Bank and Intentional Sports.

EIICHIRO ODA
Eiichiro Oda is a Japanese manga artist and the creator of the series One Piece. With more than 523.2 million tankōbon copies in circulation worldwide, One Piece is both the best-selling manga in history and the best-selling comic series printed in volume, in turn making Oda one of the best-selling fiction authors. The series’ popularity resulted in Oda being named one of the manga artists that changed the history of manga.

STEVEN MAEDA
Steve Maeda is the Executive Producer of One Piece on Netflix. Previously, he was the Executive Producer and Showrunner of Helix, Pan Am, Miami Medical, and Lie to Me. His other credits include Lost, The X-Files, CSI: Miami, Daybreak, Conviction, Salvation, Unforgettable, The Forgotten, and Harsh Realm. 

MACKENYU
After beginning his career in Japan and proving himself a versatile actor, Japanese-American actor Mackenyu has made himself one to watch in the U.S. with his portrayal of complex and powerful characters

Mackenyu was recently seen starring as Roronoa Zoro in Netflix’s live action series adaptation of One Piece. Based on the beloved long-running anime of the same name, the series follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his pirate crew of “Straw Hats” as they search for the greatest treasure ever, the famous mystery treasure named One Piece. While known as the “Pirate Hunter,” Mackenyu’s Roronoa Zoro is part of Luffy’s Straw Hats and an infamous swordsman, known for always carrying three swords. The series debuted at Number 1 on Netflix in 46 countries and was renewed for a second season.

He was also seen leading the cast of Sony’s newest franchise Knights of the Zodiac as Seiya, a street orphan who discovers that he is destined to protect the goddess of war, save the world, and ultimately become a Knight of the Zodiac.

Mackenyu most recently appeared in the live action/anime mixed feature Dragons of Wonderhatch and will next be seen in the drama series House of the Owl, both on Hulu.

Mackenyu entered the spotlight when he landed the role of Wataya Arata in the Chihayafuru trilogy, which earned him the 40th Annual Japan Academy Newcomer of the Year Award in 2017. His other film credits include Cadet Ryoichi in Universal’s Pacific Rim: Uprising, the lead role in Over Drive, and the villainous Enishi Yukishiro in the Japanese blockbuster Rurouni Kenshin: Final Chapter. Mackenyu can also be seen as Scar in Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revenge of Scar and Fullmetal Alchemist: Final Transmutation, which are based on the beloved steampunk manga series.

He currently resides in Japan.

Faye Iosotaluno currently serves as CEO of Tinder. Prior to this role, Faye was Chief Operating Officer, where she led the company’s major business and support areas, including member experience, people, business development, strategy, finance, analytics, and international. She joined Tinder after five years at Match Group, where she served as Chief Strategy Officer, overseeing corporate strategy, consumer research, and new business growth for the global portfolio while also driving revenue and growth at Tinder.

Prior to Match Group, Faye spent 15 years working to build and grow premier digital consumer services and brands at SoundCloud, Viacom Media Networks, Warner Bros, and Time Warner in various leadership roles. Her love for consumer technology was sparked while working with media clients to transition their businesses into a digital world as an investment banker at Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch.

Faye is passionate about connecting people with new technologies that help enable more meaningful lives, experiences, and relationships. She holds a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School and a B.A. in English from the School of Arts & Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania. Faye also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Dr. Fei-Fei Li is the inaugural Sequoia Professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University, and Co-Director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute. She served as the Director of Stanford’s AI Lab from 2013 to 2018. And during her sabbatical from Stanford from January 2017 to September 2018, Dr. Li was Vice President at Google and served as Chief Scientist of AI/ML at Google Cloud. Since then she has served as a Board member or advisor in various public or private companies.

Dr. Fei-Fei Li obtained her B.A. degree in physics from Princeton in 1999 with High Honors, and her PhD degree in electrical engineering from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 2005. She also holds a Doctorate Degree (Honorary) from Harvey Mudd College.

Dr. Fei-Fei Li’s current research interests include cognitively inspired AI, machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, robotic learning, and AI+healthcare especially ambient intelligent systems for healthcare delivery. In the past she has also worked on cognitive and computational neuroscience. Dr. Li has published more than 300 scientific articles in top-tier journals and conferences in science, engineering and computer science. Dr. Li is the inventor of ImageNet and the ImageNet Challenge, a critical large-scale dataset and benchmarking effort that has contributed to the latest developments in deep learning and AI. In addition to her technical contributions, she is a national leading voice for advocating diversity in STEM and AI. She is co-founder and chairperson of the national non-profit AI4ALL aimed at increasing inclusion and diversity in AI education.

Dr. Li has been working with policymakers nationally and locally to ensure the responsible use of technologies, including a number of U.S. Senate and Congressional testimonies, her service as a special advisor to the Secretary General of the United Nations, a member of the California Future of Work Commission for the Governor of California in 2019 – 2020, and a member of the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Task Force (NAIRR) for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2021-2022.

Dr. Li is an elected Member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS). She is also a Fellow of ACM, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a recipient of the Intel Lifetime Achievements Award in 2023, a recipient of the 2022 IEEE PAMI Thomas Huang Memorial Prize, 2019 IEEE PAMI Longuet-Higgins Prize, 2019 National Geographic Society Further Award, IAPR 2016 J.K. Aggarwal Prize, the 2016 IEEE PAMI Mark Everingham Award, the 2016 nVidia Pioneer in AI Award, 2014 IBM Faculty Fellow Award, 2011 Alfred Sloan Faculty Award, 2009 NSF CAREER award, the 2006 Microsoft Research New Faculty Fellowship, among others. Dr. Li is a keynote speaker at many academic or influential conferences, including the World Economics Forum (Davos), the Grace Hopper Conference 2017 and the TED2015 main conference. Work from Dr. Li’s lab have been featured in a variety of magazines and newspapers including New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, Science, Wired Magazine, MIT Technology Review, Financial Times, and more. She was selected as a 2017 Women in Tech by the ELLE Magazine, a 2017 Awesome Women Award by Good Housekeeping, a Global Thinker of 2015 by Foreign Policy, and one of the “Great Immigrants: The Pride of America” in 2016 by the Carnegie Foundation, past winners include Albert Einstein, Yoyo Ma, Sergey Brin, et al.

Dr. Fei-Fei Li is the author of the book “The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration and Discovery at the Dawn of AI”, published by Macmillan Publishers in 2023.

(Dr. Li publishes under the name L. Fei-Fei)

Gabe is the founder of MSCHF, an American art collective established in 2019.

Ginger Chan is the Chief Marketing Officer for leading talent agency, WME, part of the Endeavor network. She oversees marketing efforts on the corporate front, including event presence and awards season marketing, as well as the agency’s external presence while also looking for new ways and opportunities to amplify client’s creative efforts. Previously, Chan oversaw a global team of category experts responsible for strategic consumer PR across the company’s portfolio including IMG, the Professional Bull Riders, and premium hospitality leader On Location Experiences, as well as consumer PR strategy for select sports, entertainment and fashion talent clients from WME and IMG.

Prior to joining Endeavor, she spent nearly 14 years at Allied Global Marketing, during which time she rose to the role of Senior Vice President of National Publicity & Account Management, overseeing marquee accounts including Paramount Pictures, Food Network, Cooking Chanel, Cirque du Soleil, Netflix, Hulu, and Feld Entertainment, among many others.

Previously working as a publicist for the Seattle Film Festival, Chan began her career at the regional entertainment publicity and promotions agency, Terry Hines & Associates, after graduating from the University of Washington with a B.A. in Communications and a minor in Dance.

Grant Ogburn is the Global Chief Growth Officer at the leading global media agency, UM.
 Known for his innovative and inclusive approach, Grant thrives at the intersection of creativity, innovation, and culture, consistently pushing boundaries, lifting teams, and brands.


Born in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, and currently residing in New York City with his partner and their dog, Grant is a mentor at heart. He is dedicated to nurturing and empowering individuals to embrace their unique strengths and voices, embodying the philosophy of “being the person we all needed when we started out.”

He is a fierce advocate for diversity and inclusion, working to elevate the visibility and advancement of the AAPI and LGBTQUIA+ communities. His involvement with organizations like the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Gold House, and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, especially through initiatives like Aids Lifecycle, underscores his commitment to meaningful community impact.

Grant believes in using brands and their reach, imagination, and fortitude to build better futures for the communities and cultures they touch.

A100 is particularly meaningful as he dedicates it to his late grandmother, Colleen Cowley, and late uncle, Alfred Cowley, whose enduring influence, and community impact continue to inspire generations of Tongans around the world.

Hanya Yanagihara is the author of three novels: The People in the Trees, A Little Life, and To Paradise. She lives in NYC and is the editor in chief of T: The New York Times Style Magazine.

Born in 1941 in Tokyo, Japan, Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 with Isao Takahata. Among his eleven animated features, Spirited Away (2001) broke every box office record in Japan, and won the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival and the 2002 Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature Film. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) received the Osella Award at the 2004 Venice International Film Festival. Miyazaki was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2005 Venice International Film Festival. The Wind Rises (2013) was nominated for the 2013 Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature. In 2014, the Board of Governors for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him with an Honorary Oscar® for Lifetime Achievement. In 2024, he received the Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature for his latest feature, The Boy and the Heron.

Helen Chiang is the Chief Operating Officer of Game Content and Studios at Xbox. She previously served as the Head of Minecraft as well. Under Helen’s leadership, Minecraft has seen record growth, was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, and was selected as Polygon’s Best Game of the Decade (2010-2019). As a longtime Xbox veteran, Helen has been a strategic leader in many aspects of the Xbox business: setting the foundation for the Xbox Live business as one of the original team members, leading the Xbox Live Arcade team through a business transformation, and navigating Microsoft’s acquisition of Mojang Studios. She is a strong advocate and champion for women in games and is passionate about helping girls see themselves in technology careers.

Helen holds a dual bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and computer science from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. In her free time, Helen enjoys taking on new athletic challenges and has summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, ran the Boston marathon alongside Will Ferrell, and climbed Mt. Rainier for charity. She lives in the greater Seattle area with her husband and two daughters, with whom she plays Minecraft in creative mode.

Hesam Hosseini is the CEO of Evergreen & Emerging Brands, a portfolio of dating apps within the Match Group. He oversees iconic brands such as Match and OKCupid, as well as high-growth brands including BLK and Chispa.

During his 15 years at Match Group, Hesam has been CEO of several of Match Group’s business units including Match, leading the original dating app brand through a period of rapid product and brand transformation. He has incubated and launched several successful dating brands serving under-served communities, which have each made a large cultural impact in their respective segments. Hesam has also overseen multiple acquisitions while at Match Group, including the largest acquisition in the dating category.

Prior to Match, Hesam was a startup founder and a consultant at McKinsey & Company. Hesam holds an Honors in Business Administration from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. Hesam immigrated to Toronto at the age of twelve and lives in Dallas with his wife, Angela, and 3 children. Hesam and Angela are passionate about supporting early childhood education and serve on the boards of the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation and Educational First Steps, respectively.

Howard Lee is President of Discovery Networks and TLC where he oversees all creative and business operations including programming, production, and development for Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel, and Travel Channel. Under Lee’s stewardship, TLC has broken multiple performance records, and his leadership is the driving force behind the network’s ongoing evolution as the leading destination for female audiences. In Lee’s first year overseeing the Discovery Channel, Shark Week, the week-long celebration of apex predators, became the highest rated programming event for the network in three years and made history with all seven nights outperforming the previous year.

Lee’s natural creative instinct has built TLC’s pop culture brand and relevance. Among numerous hit series to his credit, he developed and greenlit the ratings juggernaut 90 Day Fiancé franchise, which propelled TLC to rank #1 for women in cable on Sunday nights over the past 5 years and has boomed with over 5.2 billion hours of consumed content; the breakout top-rated series Dr. Pimple Popper; the bold reality tv series that turned the country’s head Here Comes Honey Boo Boo; the explosive social media phenomenon 1000-lb Sisters, and has launched a myriad of brand-defining programs including Sister Wives, Say Yes to the Dress, Cake Boss, Toddlers and Tiaras, Long Island Medium, I am Jazz, and My Big Fat Fabulous Life.

Lee has been repeatedly named to Variety’s Reality TV Power Players Report, recognized in The Hollywood Reporter’s 50 Most Powerful LGBTQ Players, Out’s LGBTQ+ Titans of Media and Entertainment List, Cablefax’s Top 100 Power Players list, and honored as Adweek’s Executive of the Year in 2020. He proudly leads the network’s pro-social initiatives focused on diversity, acceptance, and inclusion.

Lee received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts for Film and Television.

An Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning Hollywood producer, Janet Yang is currently the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Yang’s extensive film and television credits include The Joy Luck Club, The People vs. Larry Flynt, The Weight of Water, Shanghai Calling, High Crimes, Zero Effect, and the Academy Award-nominated animated feature Over the Moon.

Yang began her career by running the first distribution company to market Chinese films into North America. She also brokered the reintroduction of American studio films to the Chinese marketplace after a decades-long hiatus. This in turn led to joining Steven Spielberg on the historic production of Empire of the Sun. This was followed by a long-term partnership with writer and director Oliver Stone, winner of multiple Academy Awards.

Most recently, Yang was named one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Hollywood by The Hollywood Reporter. She was also honored by Variety‘s Power of Women 2023.

For more information, please visit:
www.janetyang.com

Jason Kwon is the Chief Strategy Officer at OpenAI. Previously, he was the General Counsel of Y Combinator Continuity, Assistant General Counsel of Khosla Ventures and an Associate Attorney at Goodwin. He was a software engineer and product manager before practicing law. He has JD from UC Berkeley Law and a BA from Georgetown University.

Jay Shetty, a global bestselling author, award-winning podcast host of On Purpose, and purpose-driven entrepreneur, has made an indelible impact on hearts and minds worldwide. With an astounding following of over 50 million across social media platforms, Jay possesses a talent for making purpose and ancient wisdom not only relatable but also practical and easily accessible. His journey of transformation and inspiration has touched the lives of millions across the globe. Jay Shetty harnessed the transformative power of digital and audio media with the launch of “On Purpose with Jay Shetty” in 2019. This groundbreaking and award-winning podcast tops the charts as the world’s leading Health and Wellness podcast with over 35 million monthly downloads, ranking in Spotify’s Top 5 Podcasts Globally and earning a spot among Apple’s Top 20 Podcasts of the Year. Through captivating and sincere dialogues, Jay engages in conversations with some of the most influential and insightful individuals on the planet. From President Joe Biden, Oprah and Selena Gomez to Will Smith, Tom Holland, Kim Kardashian, Michelle Obama, Kevin Hart, Jennifer Lopez, Lewis Hamilton, and Kobe Bryant, Jay’s podcast attracts an array of notable guests, enabling him to delve deep into thought-provoking discussions that inspire and enlighten his listeners. In 2020, Jay Shetty released his debut book, “Think Like A Monk,” which soared to the top of the New York Times and UK Sunday Times bestsellers lists. In 2023 Jay wrote his second book, “8 Rules of Love,” in response to the most common questions he received over the pandemic, which revolved around love and relationships which quickly claimed its place as another instant New York Times and global bestseller. Jay is on the mission of spreading love, purpose and transformation globally.

Jazz Tangcay is the Senior Artisans Editor at Variety and covers all crafts below the line. When she’s not finding new ways to expand the artisans world, she’s finding stories that need to be highlighted – such as the pay equity fight for costume designers.
An award-winning journalist, Jazz enjoys shining a spotlight on telling diverse stories in underrepresented communities. By night, Jazz can often be found on the circuit moderating and striking up conversations.

Jeff is EY’s Global Chief Innovation Officer, leading the firm’s global innovation investment network to help identify, share, and scale the best ideas to build a better working world. He also spearheads EY’s pursuit to research and explore new technologies – including establishing EY’s advanced and emerging tech labs on Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Quantum, Robotics, and Web3.

Jeff has extensive experience across strategy, investing, and building new ventures globally. He has built and led new businesses across industries, including commerce, financial/professional services, and technology throughout his career.

Jeff is passionate about understanding the way technology impacts the world and how to integrate it into communities responsibly. He sits on the Advisory Board for AI4All, a non-profit organization working to increase diversity and inclusion in AI. He is a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations, a member of the Asia Society’s Business Council, and the Founding Chair of Asia Society’s Technology and Innovation Council, where he helps drive the innovation and transformation agenda. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Most recently, he was a Top 50 Asian Americans in Business in the US (2023) honoree.

Previously, Jeff served as a member of two World Economic Forum Global Future Councils, a multistakeholder and interdisciplinary insights network focusing on wide-ranging topics related to innovation, policy, sustainability and more. He has also served on the Oxford Foundry Board at Oxford University.

Jeff regularly speaks at international business summits including Reuters NEXT and the UN Global Compact Summit. His commentary on innovation and emerging tech trends appears in top tier media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, FT, Fortune, and Forbes. He is a graduate of Stanford University and continues to be involved with his alma mater as an adjunct lecturer at Stanford’s School of Engineering.

Jess Park is the Senior Vice President, Chief of Brand and Fan Engagement at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee where she leads ongoing efforts to strengthen and steward the Team USA brand and U.S. Olympic and Paralympic fandom. Responsible for storytelling and fan engagement efforts with athletes, fans, and other important partners across the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movements, she drives innovation across brand, athlete and sport marketing, fan engagement, and content development.

Prior to the USOPC, Jess served as the Senior Vice President of Global Fan Marketing at the NBA where she developed integrated marketing campaigns that drove discovery, built deeper connections, and delivered fan-centric experiences. Drawn to organizations that are at the center of culture, Jess previously led Business Marketing at Spotify, Brand Marketing at VH1, and Strategic Marketing at Vevo. Jess brings a unique perspective on how brands and products can evolve with the consumer, creating and leveraging fandoms that matter.

JULIE MORITA, MD
Julie Morita is Executive Vice President of RWJF, where she oversees all programs and grantmaking aimed at creating a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right. Before joining RWJF, Dr. Morita led the Chicago Department of Public Health as Commissioner, overseeing the public health needs of 2.7 million residents in the nation’s third-largest city. In addition to leading numerous public health emergency responses, Dr. Morita focused on achieving health equity by addressing the conditions in which people live, learn, work and play through her nearly two decade-long tenure improving public health in Chicago. Dr. Morita has served on a broad range of national advisory boards, including the Biden Transition COVID19 Advisory Board, the Advisory Committee to the Director of the CDC, and the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Community Based Solutions to Promote Health Equity in the United States. A native of Chicago, Dr. Morita earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and her medical degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical School. She completed her residency at the University of Minnesota.

MAY NG
May Ng is Chief Investment Officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a private philanthropic organization dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of everyone in the United States. She leads the team responsible for managing the Foundation’s $13 billion endowment.

May has nearly 20 years of experience in endowment and foundation investment management. Prior to joining the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2023, she served as Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Earlier in her career she was a Senior Investment Officer in George Washington University’s Investment Office.

May holds an MPA with a concentration in Economics and Public Policy from Princeton University and a BA in Political Science from Williams College. She currently serves on the investment committees of Williams College, the William Penn Foundation, the France-Merrick Foundation and Georgetown Day School.

Jung Kook (Jeon, Jeongguk) is a South Korean singer, songwriter, and member of 21st century pop icons, BTS. Jung Kook has been proving his wide spectrum of musical talent through solo works such as “Euphoria,” “My Time” and “Still With You,” as well as collaborative singles with global artists including Lauv and Charlie Puth. Jung Kook is credited on multiple BTS tracks including the Japanese single “Your Eyes Tell,” “Stay” from BE, and “Run BTS” from Proof. Jung Kook also participated in singing “Dreamers,” the official soundtrack of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, which he performed at the Opening Ceremony. In July 2023, the global pop star released his RIAA platinum-certified (as of November 2023) first solo single “Seven (feat. Latto),” which debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 and Spotify’s Top Song Global charts, as well as at No. 3 on the UK official singles chart. He released his sophomore single “3D (feat. Jack Harlow)” in September, followed by his first solo album GOLDEN in November.

Keanu Reeves is a Canadian actor, musician, and comic book writer. Regarded as one of the most influential and acclaimed actors in modern history, he is known for his versatile performances in numerous genres throughout his career.

Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, he made his acting debut in the Canadian television series Hangin’ In (1984), before making his feature film debut in Youngblood (1986). Reeves had his breakthrough role in the science fiction comedy Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), and he reprised his role in its sequels. He gained praise for playing a hustler in the independent drama My Own Private Idaho (1991) and established himself as an action hero with leading roles in Point Break (1991) and Speed (1994).

His performance in the horror film The Devil’s Advocate (1997) was well received, and greater stardom came for playing Neo in The Matrix (1999). He played John Constantine in Constantine (2005) and starred in the romantic drama The Lake House (2006), the science fiction thriller The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), and the crime thriller Street Kings (2008).

In 2014, Reeves starred as the titular assassin in the film John Wick (2014). Reprising his role in subsequent installments, the series has been considered to have revitalized the action film genre and has been regarded as one of the greatest action film franchises of all time. TIME named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2022.

In addition to acting, Reeves has directed the film Man of Tai Chi (2013). He plays bass guitar for the band Dogstar and pursued other endeavors such as developing the BRZRKR franchise and has participated in philanthropic causes.

Kristen Kish is the chef/partner of Arlo Grey in Austin, TX and the host of Bravo’s Emmy award-winning Top Chef. She is also the host and producer of Restaurants at the End of the World on National Geographic/Disney+. In 2023, she was named to TIME100’s Next, AdWeek’s Creative 100, and Marie Claire’s Power lists.

Born in South Korea and adopted into a family in Kentwood, MI, Kristen showed an affinity for cooking at a young age. After culinary school, she honed her skills at several high-profile restaurants in Boston.

Kristen’s TV career began when she competed on and won season 10 of Top Chef. In a full circle moment, she was named host of the beloved series for its 21st season premiering March 2024. Her credits also include co-star of Fast Foodies on truTV/Food Network and co-host of Iron Chef on Netflix.

In 2017, Kristen released her first cookbook, Kristen Kish Cooking: Recipes and Techniques and in 2018 she opened her first restaurant, Arlo Grey at the LINE hotel. The restaurant reflects Kristen’s playful yet refined cuisine, pulling inspiration from her classical training as well as nostalgic dishes that highlights her upbringing and love of travel.

Krystal Ka‘ai is the Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) and the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. In this role, she is responsible for advising the Biden administration on the coordination and implementation of federal programs and initiatives to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) communities. Prior to joining WHIAANHPI, Krystal worked on Capitol Hill for over a decade, including serving as the Executive Director of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) for eight years. She previously held positions with the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, the State of Hawai‘i, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation. Krystal was born and raised in Hawai‘i and is the first Native Hawaiian to ever lead WHIAANHPI.

Lee Jung-jae, who debuted back in 1993 with a local drama in South Korea, continues to thrive not only in Korea but also globally as an actor, director, and producer.

After solidifying his position as an actor in Korea as a household name, he leads the Korean film industry starring in films like The Thieves, Assassination, and Along with the Gods series. With various projects, he showcases his power as an actor with box office hits. He continues to expand his boundless spectrum as an actor by taking part in projects that tackle new subjects and genres through innovative characters.

Lee’s career skyrocketed with Squid Game, released back in 2021, where he played the protagonist, Sung Ki-Hoon, one of the most complicated yet realistic characters, who manages to stick to his moral values, despite struggling with hardships at the very bottom of the social ladder. After the release of Squid Game, Lee became the first Asian star to win the Emmy award for Best Male Actor in a Drama, cementing his name on the global stage.

Lee pushed his boundaries with Hunt, where he took part as a director, writer, producer, and also as a lead actor. When the film was highly praised at its premier at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, the world acknowledged Lee’s potential as a director.

Lee Jung-Jae’s career continues to thrive in 2024 as he is expected to meet his global fans with the most anticipated, The Acolyte, a new Star Wars series, scheduled to be released in June this year, where he plays Jedi Master. Moreover, Lee is set to return in the second half of 2024 with Squid Game season 2.

New Zealand-Tongan actor Luciane Buchanan started acting as a young teen in Aotearoa landing roles on local series The Blue Rose and Filthy Rich. In 2018, Luciane was cast as the lead protagonist Tripitaka in 2 seasons of the Netflix series, The New Legends of Monkey. Successive roles include Netflix’s Sweet Tooth and Apple TV+’s Mr Corman. 2022 was a breakout year internationally for Luciane when she was cast in The Night Agent, playing the lead role of Rose in Netflix’s political conspiracy thriller created by Shawn Ryan and based on author Matthew Quirk’s 2019 New York Times bestseller, which went on to break records as Netflix’s most watched series of 2023. This catapulted Luciane as one of IMDb Top Stars of 2023.

In 2020, Luciane was a recipient of the Script to Screen “Fresh Shorts” program for her first short screenplay Lea Tupu’anga/ Mother Tongue funded by the New Zealand Film Commission, which is world premiering at the Sundance 2024 International Fiction Short Film competition. With a passion for elevating Pasifika stories, Luciane worked alongside Tavake productions as associate producer on the hit show local show Panthers, based on the true story of the Polynesian Panther movement in New Zealand during 1970s. The show had its world premiere at TIFF in 2021.

Luciane’s latest lead role as Queen Ka’ahumanu in Apple TV+ series Chief of War is set to release in late 2024.

The University of Auckland celebrated Luciane in the 2023 “40 under 40” list of alumni. As a drama and psychology major, Luciane approaches her roles with courage, conviction, and verve. Luciane is represented by Gail Cowan Management (NZ), WME (US) & Entertainment 360 (US).

LULU WANG
Lulu Wang’s 2019 sophomore feature The Farewell, which she wrote and directed, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. Wang went on to amass critical acclaim and awards for the A24 box office hit. The film won Best Feature at the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards, and received many accolades and nominations, including AFI’s Top Ten Films of 2019, a Golden Globe Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language nomination, as well as Best Feature and Best Screenplay nods from the Gotham Independent Film Awards. In addition, The Farewell‘s lead actress Awkwafina was the recipient of the Golden Globe for Best Actress, while Zhao Shuzhen received a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards.

Wang’s production company, Local Time, has several features, television series, and podcasts in development. Wang’s latest limited series, Expats, starring Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, Ji-Young Yoo, Jack Huston, and Brian Tee launched on Prime Video on January 26. The penultimate episode, Central, premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and played at subsequent fall festivals. Wang served as the showrunner and writer and directed all six episodes.

SARAYU BLUE
Sarayu Blue is a stage, film, and television actress who can be seen in the Amazon limited series Expats starring opposite Nicole Kidman and directed by Lulu Wang. The six-part limited series is based on the internationally best-selling novel, The Expatriates, by Janice Y. K. Lee and centers on three American women—Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Hilary (Sarayu Blue), and Mercy (Ji-young Yoo)—whose lives intersect after a sudden family tragedy.

Blue began her career stealing scenes in shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and David E. Kelley’s medical drama Monday Mornings. She continued to work as a series regular, playing Kareema on The CW’s No Tomorrow and co-starred in the highly anticipated Children’s Hospital spinoff, Medical Police. Her breakout moment came when she starred as Emet in the female-driven NBC comedy, I Feel Bad, produced by Amy Poehler. Since then, she has been seen in Hulu’s Happiest Season, the second and third installments of the popular Netflix film series To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, the Apple TV+ series The Shrink Next Door, the Universal feature Blockers, and the Amazon feature A Million Miles Away.

Blue has accumulated numerous guest roles on shows such as The Real O’Neals (ABC), Station 19 (ABC), The Big Bang Theory (CBS), The Unicorn (CBS) and Veep (HBO).

A classically trained theater actor, some of Blue’s stage credits include Varya in The Cherry Orchard (Yale Repertory Theatre), Belle in A Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theater), and Livia in The Tamer Tamed (Shakespeare Santa Cruz).

Blue received her B.A. in Theater Arts from The University of Iowa and her M.F.A. from The American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

JI-YOUNG YOO
Ji-young Yoo is having a breakout year with three much anticipated performances on the horizon. Variety named her one of the 10 Actors to Watch for 2023. Yoo can currently be seen as a co-lead in the Amazon Prime Video six-part limited series Expats opposite Nicole Kidman and Sarayu Blue. Based on Janice Y.K. Lee’s international best-selling novel, The Expatriates, the series from writer and director Lulu Wang (The Farewell) is set against the tapestry of 2014 Hong Kong and centers on three American women – Margaret (Kidman), Mercy (Yoo) and Hilary (Blue) – whose lives intersect after a sudden tragedy.

In 2023, Yoo starred in the poignant coming-of-age drama Smoking Tigers, which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. The winner of an AT&T Presents: Untold Stories grant, So Young Shelly Yo’s directorial debut tells the story of Hayoung, a lonely 16-year-old Korean American girl staggered by the separation of her parents. Yoo won the Best Performance in a U.S. Narrative Feature for her role, and the film won Best Screenplay in a U.S. Narrative Feature (Yo) and the Nora Ephron Award Special Jury Mention.

She will next be seen in the immersive film Freaky Tales alongside Pedro Pascal and Jay Ellis. From Captain Marvel helmers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, the film is set in Oakland in 1987 and is comprised of four interconnected stories, each featuring distinct characters, real life locations, and noteworthy historical events (some real, some imagined). The film premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

Manish Bapna is President and Chief Executive Officer of NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), one of the world’s largest and most influential environmental organizations. With more than 700 attorneys, scientists, advocates and policy experts, as well as three million supporting members, NRDC is confronting the interlocking climate, health, nature and inequity crises facing the world today.

During his 25-year career prior to NRDC, Bapna’s leadership roles have focused on scaling solutions at the intersection of the environment and human development. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the World Resources Institute (WRI). Over his 14-year tenure, WRI increased its impact and reach, with staff and budget expanding sixfold. Bapna played the lead role in establishing WRI offices in China, India, and Brazil. He was a key architect of several influential, multi-stakeholder initiatives, and helped launch programs on cities, energy, finance, and adaptation.

An economist by training, Bapna became the Executive Director of the Bank Information Center (BIC) in 2003, a nonprofit that works to protect the rights of local communities and the environment from the negative impacts of projects and policies financed by development banks. He was inspired to join BIC after serving as a senior economist at the World Bank, where he designed and implemented water, forestry and rural development projects in Asia and Latin America, several of which received international recognition and were highly rated in independent evaluations. Prior to that, he was a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company in the financial services and technology industries.

Bapna has testified before Congress on international sustainability issues and holds affiliations with international environmental bodies. He holds master’s degrees in business and political and economic development from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from MIT.

Mark Fischbach, aka Markiplier, is a creator, filmmaker, and entrepreneur with a reach of over 73 Million across digital platforms, including 36.5 Million on YouTube. Forbes named him the number one influencer in gaming and thirteenth Top Creator of 2023. Variety has called him one of the twenty most influential celebrities among teenagers in the United States.

Mark can next be seen in the film adaption of popular video game IRON LUNG which he self financed, wrote, directed, edited and stars in. He also wrapped production on THE EDGE OF SLEEP based on the podcast of the same name. He currently co-hosts the popular podcasts “Distractible” and “GO! My Favorite Sports Team,” and can be seen in the Emmy-nominated YouTube Original Series In Space with Markiplier, the follow-up to his Award Winning series A Heist with Markiplier, where he serves as creator, writer, director, and star.

Beyond digital platforms, Markiplier co-founded Cloak, a clothing company fostering inclusivity. They recently partnered with The Trevor Project, donating part of the proceeds from their limited edition collection “Binary,” which aims to “write the new code” instead of living according to others’ expectations.
In 2022 Mark made headlines by creating an OnlyFans account (featuring tasteful photos only) after his fans accepted his challenge of bringing his two podcasts to #1 on both Apple and Spotify’s podcast charts. All money raised through OnlyFans goes to charity.

Mark also hosted a livestream charity drive benefiting My Friend’s Place, helping homeless youths transition into self-sufficiency. The stream raised $500k in less than 24 hours. He subsequently earned a “Social Good Creator” nomination at the 2019 Streamy Awards for his work.

With his multifaceted career, philanthropic endeavors, and influential presence, Markiplier continues to leave an indelible mark in the entertainment industry.

MATT OGAWA
Matt Ogawa is Vice President of HR at Meta Platforms Inc. where he leads the Core Business HR Partner, Global Employee Relations, Industrial Relations, Wellness and Internal Community teams. Matt is an Executive Advisor for Meta’s Asian Pacific Islander resource groups and chapters, has served on the company’s Diversity Advisory Council, and leads cross-functional company efforts alongside other key API leaders and nonprofit organizations to move focus towards cultural advancement, career growth and support, as well as amplification and representation efforts. Matt formerly served as an HR executive at Gap Inc. where he founded the company API ERG and was a key member of the launch team to establish Banana Republic and other Gap brands in the Asia market. Outside of work Matt has served on several API arts and youth advocacy boards, launched the first ever Japanese American statewide giving fund and is a co-producer of one of the largest API Celebrity Basketball Charity events in the United States. Matt is 4th generation Japanese American and is a Bay Area native, residing in San Jose California.

NAOMI GLEIT
Naomi Gleit is the Head of Product at Meta. She leads the team building products and tools that work across its technologies, overseeing the growth of Facebook’s core app, the product management organization, the team building products that empower people to do good, and the team working to keep people safe on and off Meta technologies.

As one of Meta’s very first employees, Naomi has worked on nearly every major initiative at the company, including privacy, elections, and charitable giving tools. She was a founding member of the Growth team that helped Meta’s family of apps grow from 1 million people when she joined to over 3 billion today.

Naomi graduated from Stanford with a degree in Science, Technology and Society and wrote her senior thesis on Facebook. Originally from Brooklyn, she currently lives in New York City.

PRATITI RAYCHOUDHURY
Pratiti Raychoudhury is a product leader with twenty plus years of experience in all facets of the product life cycle, from new concept development and business formation to implementation and scaling.

She is currently the VP / Product Group Lead for New Monetization Experiences, responsible for building paid subscription products in support of diversifying Meta’s revenue portfolio. She oversees a team of product managers, engineers, data scientists, product designers, and user researchers in this role.

Before leading New Monetization Experiences, Pratiti was the Head of Research at Meta where she led an organization of over 1,200 researchers around the world. She was also the Single Threaded Owner for Meta’s well-being products where she was instrumental in shepherding Meta’s work on well-being and social issues.

Pratiti is passionate about building new products, features and experiences that people, businesses and creators can purchase across Meta. She was critical in helping navigate Facebook’s existential move from Web to Mobile, and led the product strategy behind some of Facebook’s most popular and utilized products including Timeline, Marketplace, Facebook Developer Platform and many others.

She has held a number of leadership roles at Meta since joining in 2010. For the last 2 years, Pratiti has also served as one of the executive sponsors for APIs@ Meta. Within this space, Pratiti continues to be a voice for programs, initiatives and activations that support the Asian Pacific Islander community both internally and externally.

In the wake and aftermath of the devastating August 2023 wildfires in Lahaina, Maui, first responders and community members continue to act selflessly and heroically to rebuild Lahaina and support its residents. Their strength and resilience are not only uplifting the community in a time of great need but also inspiring the world to work together to power tomorrow for all.

Maya Erskine plays the iconic female lead in Amazon’s MR. AND MRS. SMITH opposite Donald Glover. The series, which is a remake of the 2005 film of the same name, received incredible reviews.

She also co-starred and co-created the brilliant Emmy nominated series PEN15 for Hulu. During its first season, the series won the 2019 Gotham Award for Breakthrough Series and Erskine, along with co-creator and co-lead Anna Konkle, was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series. The duo also received WGA Award nominations for New Series and Comedy Series and a Critics Choice Award nomination for Best Comedy Series. In its second season, PEN15 earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series and a Peabody Award nomination.

Maya also voices the lead character ‘Mizu’ in Netflix’s critically acclaimed show BLUE EYE SAMURAI, which Rolling Stone called a “gory and gorgeous animated series.”

She is currently developing the international bestselling novel The Perfect Nanny as a limited series for HBO, in which she is set to star alongside Nicole Kidman in addition to serving as creator and writer.

Natalie Tran serves as Executive Director of the CAA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of leading talent and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). The Foundation activates the power and reach of the entertainment, media, and sports industries to create systemic social change for a more equitable and optimistic future. Its efforts are focused on public education, civic engagement, climate, and in times of critical need, mobilizing into action through crisis response. Based in the Los Angeles office, Tran consults clients, executives, and corporations on their philanthropic and pro-social initiatives.

In 2023, the CAA Foundation was named the one of Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators.

In 2020, Tran led the formation of the Civic Alliance a non-partisan coalition of businesses united by a commitment to a thriving democracy. Since its inception, the Civic Alliance has grown to over 1,350 companies with a reach of 5.6 million employees and was named as one of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas.

In 2018, Tran co-founded I am a voter., a nonpartisan awareness campaign that aims to create a cultural shift around voting and civic engagement by engaging brands and talent. Since its launch, the campaign has activated hundreds of brand partners and influencers to help increase voter turnout in every state.

She also serves on the Board of The Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), Power the Polls, Turnaround Arts CA and is on the Advisory Board of the Black Economic Alliance. Her work has been featured in Forbes, the New York Times, Leaders Magazine, Chronicle of Philanthropy, WORTHY and The Hollywood Reporter.

Nilay Patel is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Verge, the technology and culture brand from Vox Media, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2022. In his decade at Vox Media, he’s grown The Verge into one of the largest and most influential tech sites, with a global audience of millions of monthly readers, and award-winning journalism with real-world impact. Honored in Adweek’s “Creative 100” in 2021, under Patel’s leadership, The Verge received its first Pulitzer and National Magazine Award nominations. Patel is a go-to expert voice in the tech space, hosting The Verge’s Webby award-winning podcasts, Decoder with Nilay Patel and The Vergecast, and appearing on CNBC as a regular contributor. He received an AB in Political Science from the University of Chicago in 2003 and his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2006.

Nyjah Huston (29) has been pushing the boundaries of what is possible on a skateboard for over 20 years. The Nike SB athlete is the most-decorated professional skateboarder of all-time with a collection of titles and trophies that rival sport legends across all disciplines. Throughout his illustrious career, the six-time world champion and 13-time X Games gold medalist has swiftly progressed the sport of professional street skating since becoming the youngest-ever X Games competitor at age 11. From a young age, Nyjah exhibited an innate talent for skateboarding, setting the stage for a career that would reshape the landscape of street skateboarding. His unique style, technical prowess, and consistency on the board have solidified his reputation as one of the greatest street skateboarders of his generation. As a 2021 TIME100 Next honoree, Nyjah led Team USA’s Olympic street skateboarding team to the global stage at the Tokyo Games in 2021, for the sport’s inaugural showing at the Olympics. Beyond the competitive arena, Nyjah has become a cultural icon, influencing the direction of contemporary skateboarding. His commitment to surpassing the limits of a skateboard has set new standards for the sport. Whether navigating complex street courses or mastering rail and stair combinations, Nyjah’s performances reflect a relentless pursuit of excellence. Off the skateboard, Nyjah is also recognized for his entrepreneurial spirit. Beyond his partnerships with Nike and Monster Energy, Nyjah founded Disorder Skateboards in 2021, paying homage to an industry that has shaped his life for over 20 years. His impact on the culture of skateboarding extends beyond the competitions, making him a key figure in shaping the future of the sport. Nyjah will be making his return to the Olympics this summer at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Parris Goebel, also known mononymously as Parris, is a New Zealand dancer and choreographer. She is the founder and main choreographer of the Palace Dance Studio, which has produced dance crews such as ReQuest, Sorority, Bubblegum, and the Royal Family. The last has won the World Hip Hop Dance Championship three times in a row, becoming the first dance crew in history to achieve it.

She has worked alongside multiple mainstream artists including Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Normani; and has choreographed the music videos for “What Do You Mean?” and “Yummy” by Justin Bieber, “Touch” by Little Mix, “Level Up” by Ciara, and “How Do You Sleep?” by Sam Smith.

Goebel was nominated for the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year as a director on “Sorry” by Justin Bieber. She has also earned three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her choreography work on the Amazon Prime Video television specials Savage X Fenty Show, Savage X Fenty Show: Vol. 2, and Savage X Fenty: Vol. 3 by Rihanna, and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for the latter. In 2020, she choreographed for Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s Super Bowl LIV halftime performances and for Rihanna’s Super Bowl LVII halftime performance.

In 2024, it was announced that she would be overseeing artistic direction and choreography for Vogue World: Paris.

Born in Biên Hòa, Vietnam, Do moved to Philadelphia with his parents at the age of 14. A love for fashion, cultivated on the internet, led him to FIT and then to the Céline atelier where he worked under Phoebe Philo. He launched his own namesake label in 2018, which stepped into the post-Philo void for clean, luxurious daywear for women with impeccable taste, and which soon caught on with men like Moses Sumney and Jeno from NCT. On May 13, 2023, he was announced as the new Creative Director of Helmut Lang.

PETER SOHN
Peter Sohn joined Pixar Animation Studios in September 2000, and has worked on Academy Award®-winning feature films including “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles,” and “WALL•E.” Sohn made his directorial debut on the Pixar short “Partly Cloudy,” before going on to direct his first feature “The Good Dinosaur.” He was also an Executive Producer on “Luca,” which debuted on Disney+ in June 2021. Most recently, Sohn directed Disney and Pixar’s feature film “Elemental,” which opened in theaters summer 2023 and is now streaming on Disney+. Elemental was also nominated for an Academy Award® for ‘Best Animated Feature’.

In his role as a Creative VP, Sohn is involved in key creative decision-making at the studio and consults on films in both development and production.

In addition to his contributions as a filmmaker, Sohn has lent his voice talents to Pixar’s feature films. In “Ratatouille” he voiced the character of Emile, and in “Monsters University,” he is the voice of Scott “Squishy” Squibbles. Audiences will also hear Sohn in Pixar’s feature film “Lightyear,” where he voices Buzz’s lovable robotic feline sidekick, Sox.

Prior to Pixar, Sohn worked at Warner Bros. with “Ratatouille” director Brad Bird on “The Iron Giant,” as well as at Disney TV. He grew up in New York and attended California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts). He currently lives in the Bay Area.

BRENDA HSUEH
Brenda Hsueh began her career writing half hour comedy on the first three seasons of “How I Met Your Mother,” and then went on to work on shows like Netflix’s “Disjointed” and “The Afterparty” on Apple TV+.

In the feature film space, Brenda wrote on Disney and Pixar’s Oscar nominated film “Elemental.” More recently, Brenda wrote the upcoming “Ghostbusters” film from Sony Pictures Animation, and will make her feature directorial debut with “Match,” a live-action sci-fi romantic dramedy.

Brenda also started her own production company ‘Shoes Off Productions,’ which produces both television and feature film projects. Their mandate is to make stories that are character driven and high concept across all genres but always with some comedy. Because life no matter how sad, scary, dramatic, is never humorless.

LEAH LEWIS
Leah Lewis is known for her breakout performance in the Netflix feature film, “The Half of It,” written and directed by Alice Wu. The film launched globally on Netflix after winning the Founders Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival. Writer/director Peter Sohn fell in love with her performance and cast Leah in the lead role of ‘Ember’ in Pixar’s animated feature, ELEMENTAL. The film debuted as the closing film at the 76th Cannes Film Festival and went on to be one of the top summer movies of 2023.

Leah’s other credits include 4 seasons as “George Fan” in the CW series NANCY DREW, The CW’s CHARMED, Hulu’s GUIDANCE, ABC’s STATION 19, and THE GOOD DOCTOR, and Fox’s THE GIFTED. She was most recently seen in the lead role of ‘Lizzy” in the feature film TRIPPED UP opposite Ariel Winter and Vanessa Williams, and will next be seen in CBS’s reboot of MATLOCK opposite Kathy Bates. She also voices the role of ‘Rav’ in the upcoming Paramount animated feature film THE TIGER’S APPRENTICE alongside Sandra Oh and Michelle Yeoh, set to release in 2024.

In addition to her acting, Leah is an incredible singer, who has been writing her own music since the age of 15. In her free time, Leah enjoys writing, powerlifting, advocating for mental health care, getting active outdoors in nature, spending time with her family and creating a community of friends while traveling or resting between jobs.

RACHEL KONDO
Rachel Kondo was born and raised on Maui. Her writing has appeared in Electric Literature, Ploughshares Solos and Indiana Review. In 2019, her story “Girl of Few Seasons” was included in The O. Henry Prize Stories and selected as a juror favorite by Elizabeth Strout. Along with Justin Marks, she co-created the FX television production of Shōgun adapted from the novel by James Clavell. She is a graduate of the Michener Center for Writers and now lives on Maui.

HIROYUKI SANADA
Hiroyuki Sanada is an international star, award-winning actor, and is one of Japan’s most distinguished and celebrated actors of his generation.

He has starred in over fifty films and earned (the equivalent of ) a Japanese Academy Award for his role in The Twilight Samurai. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film. For television, Sanada currently stars in and is producing the remake of the epic “Shogun” mini-series for FX where he plays the role of Lord Toranaga. The mini-series is based on the best-selling novel by James Clavell.

With the huge success of “Shogun”, Sanada’s star continues to rise. He was last seen in the popular action franchise, John Wick: Chapter 4, opposite Keanu Reeves and Donnie Yen. Directed by Chad Stahelski, the film sees the legendary hitman take his fight against the High Table global, from New York to Paris to Japan to Berlin. Before that, Sanada appeared in the Sony Pictures’ action feature, Bullet Train, opposite Brad Pitt, and Sandra Bullock. The film is directed by David Leitch and follows five assassins who find themselves on a fast-moving bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka. Other recent releases include Zack Snyder’s highly anticipated Army of the Dead for Netflix, a film that centers around a group of mercenaries as they plot a heist on a Las Vegas casino during a zombie outbreak where Sanada plays the casino boss, “Bly Tanaka.” He also appeared in the James Wan-produced fantasy-action film, Mortal Kombat for Warner Bros., with Hiro playing the part of ‘Scorpion’, the most iconic role in the franchise. Both films were incredibly successful and have since announced sequels, the latter of which Sanada will again star in. Sanada also appeared in MGM’s Minamata, opposite Bill Nighy and Johnny Depp, and directed by Andrew Levitas. The film follows the historic photographer, Eugene Smith, who documented the effects of mercury poisoning on the citizens of Minamata, Kumamoto, Japan. Sanada’s first major Hollywood appearance was in The Last Samurai opposite Tom Cruise, later appearing in such blockbuster films as The Wolverine, 47 Ronin and Avengers Endgame. Sanada’s career is just as impressive on the small screen, having appeared in dozens of shows including the critically acclaimed series, Lost, for their 6th and final season, and Westworld season 2. He is also an established stage actor, working in both Japanese and British plays and theatre. His role as ‘The Fool’ in Shakespeare’s King Lear gave him notable theatrical praise and awarded him an honorary MBE for being the first Japanese actor to perform with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RBC). Sanada’s career in film, television and theater has spanned more than 50 years and he has garnered the attention of both American and foreign audiences alike. His unique ability to embody the roles he takes on has made him one of Hollywood’s most respected and sought-after Asian-American actors working today.

ANNA SAWAI
Anna Sawai is a New Zealand-born Japanese actress, singer, and dancer. She landed her first acting role at age 11 as the title character in the 2004 Nippon TV production of Annie shortly after moving to Japan. Sawai later made her film debut as Kiriko in James McTeigue’s 2009 neo-noir martial arts film Ninja Assassin.

Sawai rose to fame in Japan as one of the lead vocalists of the girl group Faky from 2013 to 2018. She made a return to acting with supporting roles in the Japanese mystery series Colors (2018) and the British crime thriller series Giri/Haji (2019). Her international breakthrough came with the roles of Elle in F9 (2021), the ninth film in the Fast & Furious franchise, and Naomi in the Apple TV+ drama series Pachinko (2022–present). She gained further recognition for playing Cate Randa in the monster series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023–2024) and received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Mariko in the FX miniseries Shōgun (2024).

Rachell Marie Hofstetter, better known as Valkyrae, is an American live streamer and YouTuber. She is a co-owner of the gaming organization 100 Thieves and has been YouTube’s most-watched female streamer since 2020.

Hofstetter began streaming on Twitch in 2015. She had her breakthrough by playing the competitive online game Fortnite in 2018 and joined 100 Thieves as their first female content creator. In 2020, she switched streaming platforms by signing an exclusive contract with YouTube. Later that year, she saw significant follower growth and reached her peak viewership when playing the online social deduction game Among Us, which led to her winning the Game Award for “Content Creator of the Year” and the Streamy Award for best live streamer. She was also named “Gaming Creator of the Year” by Adweek in 2021 and was included on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in 2022.

RAJA RAJAMANNAR
Over the past decade, Raja Rajamannar has transformed Mastercard into one of the world’s fastest-growing brands. At the helm of the iconic Priceless platform, he and his team are on the cutting edge of experiential, multisensory marketing programs that embrace emerging technologies.

A Wall Street Journal-bestselling author, Raja is a frequent speaker and media commentator. His book, “Quantum Marketing: Mastering the New Marketing Mindset for Tomorrow’s Consumers,” has become a touchstone for marketing leaders and academics around the world.
Under Raja’s leadership, recent innovations have earned Mastercard recognition as the world’s No. 1 audio brand four years in a row, as well as accolades from Disability:IN, Fast Company, Cannes Lions and other prestigious organizations. The transformation work led by Raja at Mastercard has been developed into case studies at both Harvard Business School and Yale School of Management.

He is president of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and on the boards of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), The Ad Council and Yale School of Management Consumer Insights Council. He serves on the board of PPL Corporation and is also on not-for-profit boards including Bon Secours Mercy Health, New York City Ballet and Cintrifuse.

SACHIN MEHRA
Sachin Mehra is the Chief Financial Officer for Mastercard and is a member of the company’s Management Committee. He has over 20 years of financial leadership experience, including several roles within Mastercard since he joined the company in June 2010.

As the Chief Financial Officer of Mastercard since April 2019, Sachin is responsible for all corporate finance functions, including corporate controller, tax, internal audit, investor relations, strategy, mergers and acquisitions, financial planning and analysis, treasury, risk management, global supply chain, business unit finance and regional finance activities.

Over the past decade, Sachin has been instrumental in shaping the company’s growth and transformation efforts. Following his five-year tenure as corporate treasurer and then as Business Finance Officer for the company’s largest geographic region, he moved into a business role where he developed and executed the company’s commercial products (B2B) strategy, managed the product portfolio and deepened customer relationships.

Sachin regularly engages and contributes to the Board and other governance functions including audit and risk. In addition, Sachin is passionate about developing the next generation of talent, which he does as a mentor to high-potential diverse employees at Mastercard.
Prior to Mastercard, Sachin held treasury and finance roles of increasing responsibility at Hess Corporation, General Motors and GMAC in New York, Singapore, Belgium and Shanghai. He started his career at General Motors in the New York Treasurers Office.

Sachin currently sits on the board of Salesforce. He holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia and received his undergraduate degree in commerce from Sydenham College at the University of Mumbai, India.​ Fluent in two languages, Sachin resides with his wife and two children in Westchester County, New York.

ROSEMARY PALACIOS
Rosemary Palacios is Director of Talent Outreach, Inclusion and Creative Development for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street. In this role, she further infuses the Workshop’s company-wide diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategy into all areas of show development and production, including ideation, scripting, creator and voice over talent, and visual development. As part of that role, she also worked very closely to bring authentic representation to the development of TJ, Sesame Street’s first Filipino American muppet, as well as Ji-Young, the first Korean American muppet. She additionally directs the Sesame Workshop pipeline programs, including the Sesame Writers’ Room, acting as a mentor and coach to all fellowship participants, as well as the new Sesame Directors’ Program which launched earlier this year. Palacios previously held production roles at NBCUniversal and Nickelodeon, and earned a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University.

YINAN SHENTU
Yinan Shentu was born in Beijing, China and moved to the US at the age of four, where he tossed many a coin into fountains wishing he’d one day be on TV. He made his acting debut putting on a straight face through years of extra math lessons, Chinese school, and endless studying for standardized exams, but could never shake that little boy’s wish; years later as a Cast Member at Walt Disney World, he snuck into a puppetry workshop and fell head over heels in love with the craft, eventually performing in shows like Muppet Vision 3D, Muppets Present Great Moments in (American) History, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and Fantasmic!. His fledgling journey in TV and film began with none other than the Jim Henson Company and their puppetry intensive training program in 2021, quickly followed by workshops with Disney and Sesame Workshop, where he was selected for Sesame’s Mentorship program, designed to train the bench of future puppeteers. Yinan performs the GolfNow Gopher, which golf fans may recognize as GolfNow’s newest, furriest spokesperson for the company, and has also appeared with the cast of Puppet Up! Uncensored at Knott’s Scary Farm. He is also a very enthusiastic participant in the world of voiceover, having voiced Lord Chunshen in the third season of Kingdom on Funimation and several characters in the award-winning total immersion mod Enderal: The Shards of Order.

TJ
TJ (Age 4) – TJ is a second generation Filipino-American boy, and a proud kuya (older brother) to his baby sister. He’s a natural entertainer for her, and always makes her laugh with a funny voice, song, or dance. His grandparents live on the ground floor of their building, and he loves to help them in their garden. He’s learning to speak Tagalog with his grandparents, and he is so proud when he gets to put it to use when his family comes to visit from California, where his parents are from. He loves it when they all get together so he can help his mom make lumpia with all the veggies he picked, and so he can play basketball and have a dance off with his cousins.

BOBBY PONTILLAS
Bobby Pontillas is an Oscar-nominated animation director who is passionate about bringing Filipino-American stories to animation.

He has been an animator, designer, and art director on such films as Frozen, Big Hero 6, and Moana, and designed Sesame Street‘s first Filipino muppet, TJ.

Bobby is a co-founder of Rise Up Animation, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing studio resources to BIPOC artists around the world.

SAG-AFTRA brings together two great American labor unions: Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Both were formed in the turmoil of the 1930s, with rich histories of fighting for and securing the strongest protections for media artists. Our members united to form the successor union in order to preserve those hard-won rights and to continue the struggle to extend and expand those protections into the 21st century and beyond. We are actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, dj’s, news writers, news directors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other media professionals. Our work is seen and heard in theaters, on television and radio, sound recordings, the internet, games, mobile devices, home video: you see us and hear us on all media distribution platforms. We are the faces and the voices that entertain and inform America and the world.

SAG-AFTRA is committed to organizing all work done under our jurisdictions; negotiating the best wages, working conditions, and health and pension benefits; preserving and expanding members’ work opportunities; vigorously enforcing our contracts; and protecting members against unauthorized use of their work.

A proud member of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA partners with our fellow unions in the U.S. and internationally to seek the strongest protections for media artists throughout the world. We work with governments at the international, federal, state, and local levels to expand protections for American media professionals both at home and abroad.

It is a core value of SAG-AFTRA that our strength is in our diversity. We are committed to the broadest employment and involvement of our members, regardless of race, national origin, ancestry, color, creed, religion, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, political affiliation, veteran status, gender identity or expression, age or disability. SAG-AFTRA strives to educate and engage members so that they may be full participants in the workings of their union. We are proud to be a model of inclusion, democratic organization and governance.

Sandra Douglass Morgan is the President of the Las Vegas Raiders and the first Black female team president in the National Football League’s history. She previously served as Chairwoman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board and has more than two decades of leadership experience in the sports, gaming, legal and corporate sectors.

Sandra serves on the Board of Directors of Allegiant Travel Company and Fidelity National Financial, Inc., is the vice chair of Super Bowl LVIII Host Committee, and is on the Board of Trustees for the UNLV Foundation. She is also a member of the State Bar of Nevada and the District of Columbia Bar.

Sandra graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a degree in Political Science and holds a Juris Doctor from the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Scout Bassett spent seven years in a government-run orphanage in Nanjing, China after she was abandoned on the side of a street following the loss of her right leg and suffered severe burns from a chemical fire as an infant. Given a makeshift prosthetic leg patched together from leather belts and masking tape, she never stepped outside of the orphanage before being adopted by an American couple from Michigan in 1995.

Still learning the English language, Bassett joined sports as a way to connect with her peers. She tried basketball, softball, golf, and tennis before competitively racing in track & field and triathlons. At 14, she was introduced to the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF), who gave her a grant to fund her training and equipment. She worked her way to qualify for her first U.S. Paralympic Team in 2016.

Scout is a 7-time National Champion in the 100m. She is currently the World Record holder in the 400m and Americas Record holder in the 200m. She is currently training for the Paralympic Trials in July of this year, in hopes of making the team for Paris 2024.

Off the track, Bassett is the Women’s Sports Foundation Board President, a member of the Gatorade Women’s Advisory Board, and co-host of BBC Sport’s acclaimed podcast ‘On The Podium.’ She was also featured in season 2 of The Greatness Code on Apple TV+, which debuted in May 2022.

Bassett spends time as a mentor, activist for people with disabilities and motivational speaker and is a unique and inspiring role model for all people to dream big and believe. Bassett’s book, LUCKY GIRL, was released in September 2023 alongside the Scout Bassett Fund, which offers financial grants to young athletes with disabilities to support the extensive cost of competing at the elite level.

Sehr Thadhani is a dynamic intraprenuer, strategic leader and inspirational team builder with a passion for driving change by finding opportunities in the whitespace to guide companies and leaders from big idea innovation to marketplace activation. She has a proven track record of pioneering what’s new and what’s next at some of the world’s top companies, using her skills to spur transformative growth. Everything Sehr does is mission-driven; her intuition and commitment to obsessive curiosity, radical transparency and solution finding lend to her ability to break down the root of institutional problems to not just innovate, but to also futureproof. Today, she is Chief Digital Officer at Nasdaq, where she develops and implements strategic initiatives for long term success across consumer engagement, client experience, market expansion and brand strategy. She has held senior executive and advisory roles at Google, NBC, Viacom, Silicon Foundry and Edelman Digital and served as a trusted thought partner and advisor to executives at GE, Estee Lauder, Samsung, the Department of Education and the White House during the Obama Administration. Sehr holds a BA in Marketing and Voice Performance from Indiana University, an MS in Global Affairs from NYU and an MBA from Columbia Business School. She’s a trained opera singer and the co-founder of a nonprofit that helped more than 150 women with physical disabilities build financial freedom. A true “third culture kid,” she currently resides in Miami after a childhood growing up in five countries and years of globe hopping.

As Chief Operating Officer of Procter & Gamble, Shailesh Jejurikar is responsible for P&G’s Global Operations which includes Market Operations, Global Business Services, Sales, Purchasing, Manufacturing, Distribution, and New Business for the company. He also leads the P&L for the company’s Enterprise Markets.

Shailesh’s extensive P&G career spans more than three decades and reflects broad experience in commercial and general management roles in both developed and developing markets. With a passion for impacting the lives of people around the world, he is known for his ability to identify growth possibilities by meeting the needs of consumers in new, better, and more complete ways. He has consistently delivered strong business results in every market and on every business, enabled via his deep experience of growing brands locally, regionally, globally and across industries.

Prior to his current role, Shailesh was the Chief Executive Officer of P&G’s largest business sector, Fabric & Home Care, which includes many of P&G’s most-iconic brands: Tide, Ariel, Downy, Gain, Febreze, Swiffer—and represents about one-third of total company sales and net earnings. In this role, Shailesh led the team in delivering industry-leading results and value creation through innovation, a synchronized end-to-end supply chain, brand-building, and sales.

From 2016 to 2021, Shailesh served as executive sponsor for global sustainability, ensuring full integration of P&G’s sustainability goals into the day-to-day business to enable—and to inspire—positive impact on the environment and society while creating value for the company, consumers, and shareholders.

Beyond his P&G responsibilities, Shailesh also serves on the board of directors of OTIS Worldwide Corporation, Cincinnati Center City Development Corp (3CDC) and The Christ Hospital. He is known as a catalyst for positive change both in P&G and in the community.

Shakir Moin is the President, Marketing, for Coca-Cola North America. In his current role, he overseas marketing for the entire portfolio of The Coca-Cola Company brands is North America.

Prior to his current role, Shakir was the Chief Executive Officer of Costa Coffee. Shakir was seconded to Costa Coffee from The Coca-Cola Company in July 2019 as Chief Operating Officer. He has worked with The Coca-Cola Company for 27 years and has lived in 11 countries during this time. He served various marketing, general management, commercial, bottling and strategy roles during his tenure. He moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 2017 and was appointed as Chief of Staff and Head of Global Growth Operations, reporting to the Chief Growth Officer of The Coca-Cola Company.

Prior to his US-based stint, Shakir served as Chief Marketing Officer for Coca-Cola China, where he was able to establish Coca-Cola marketing as the most admired amongst more than 70+ global and local brands. Shakir also carries a rare experience of developing and executing a launch campaign for Coca-Cola in a totally new Coca-Cola market, Myanmar, in 2013

Shakir has led everyone of his assignments with the ethos that “great people build great brands”, and always makes people and marketing capability his primary objective with a global of delivering world class marketing.

Shakir was selected by Campaign USA in its 2023 annual CMO 50 list recognizing the most “intrepid and culture-making brand marketers”. In the same year, Shakir was also recognized as 50 Most Outstanding Asians in America by Asian American Development Center. He has been awarded Coca-Cola Marketing Excellence Award twice and was also recognized with “Asian Super Achiever Award’ by CMO Asia in 2010.

He lives in Atlanta with his wife and two children.

Shou Chew is the Chief Executive Officer of TikTok where he is responsible for leading the overall business and bringing the company’s vision to life. Shou has been a member of the TikTok family since its inception, first having led a team of ByteDance’s early investors. Prior to joining TikTok, Shou served as the Executive Director, President-International & SVP at Xiaomi Corp and as a Partner at DST Global.

Born and raised in Singapore, Shou went to university in London following the completion of his mandatory military service. He holds an undergrad degree from University College London (UCL) and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He currently lives in Singapore with his wife Vivian, and their three children, but you can often find him on a plane or visiting TikTok offices around the world.

Son Heung-min is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a forward for and captains both Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the South Korea national team. Often regarded as the greatest Asian footballer of all time, he is known for his speed, finishing, two-footedness, and ability to link play.

Born in Chuncheon, South Korea, Son relocated to Germany to join Hamburger SV at 16, making his debut in the Bundesliga in 2010. In 2013, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen for a club record €10 million before signing for Tottenham for £22 million two years later, becoming the most expensive Asian player in history. While at Tottenham, Son became the top Asian goalscorer in both Premier League and Champions League history, and surpassed Cha Bum-kun’s record for most goals scored by a Korean player in European competition. In 2019, he became the second Asian in history to reach and start a UEFA Champions League final after compatriot Park Ji-sung. In the 2021–22 season, alongside Mohamed Salah, he won the Premier League Golden Boot award with 23 goals, becoming the first Asian player to win it. In April 2023, he became the first Asian player to score 100 Premier League goals. He is also the club’s sixth-highest goalscorer and all-time leader in assists.

A full international since 2010, Son has represented South Korea at the 2014, 2018, and 2022 FIFA World Cups and is his country’s joint top scorer at World Cups, tied with Park Ji-sung and Ahn Jung-hwan on three goals. Son has also represented South Korea at the 2018 Asian Games, where the team won gold, and the 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023 editions of the AFC Asian Cup; Korea was the runner-up in 2015.

Outside of football, Son is viewed as a symbol of national pride in South Korea for his achievements, and has been listed in Forbes Korea Power Celebrity 40 since 2019, where he ranked second in 2023. In June 2022, Son received the Cheongnyong Medal, the highest order of merit for achievement in sports given to a South Korea citizen, for his achievements in football. Son has been credited for having raised the profile of Tottenham Hotspur among South Koreans, with the club’s marketing and social media strategy catering extensively to Korean supporters.

Counting nearly 3 billion music streams to his name, Steve Aoki is a true visionary. Billboard described the 2x-GRAMMY-nominated music producer, artist, fashion designer, entrepreneur, NFT futurist, and Dim Mak Records founder as “one of the most in-demand entertainers in the world.” A Guinness World Record holder for the “Most Traveled Musician in a Single Calendar Year,” Aoki has performed at nearly every top festival around the world, including Coachella, Ultra Music Festival, Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock Festival, Tomorrowland, and Electric Daisy Carnival. Aoki also graced recent covers of Entrepreneur Magazine, SUCCESS Magazine, Electronic Musician, and Adweek as their “Visionary of the Year.”As a globally successful cross-genre solo artist, Aoki has collaborated with an impressive list of varied artists, including BTS, Maluma, Snoop Dogg, Linkin Park, blink-182, One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson, Machine Gun Kelly, Lil Uzi Vert, 2 Chainz, and Daddy Yankee, on top of having released three Platinum singles, six Gold singles, and over ten Top 10 radio records. After unveiling four Neon Future albums, Aoki recently released HiRO QUEST 2: Double Helix, featuring collaborations with Paris Hilton, Galantis, ERNEST, Akon, and more. Aoki approaches each new endeavor with the same sense of dedication he’s put into his past achievements, including the Grammy-nominated Netflix documentary I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead(2016) and his memoir BLUE: The Color of Noise (2019). In 2012, he also founded THE AOKI FOUNDATION to support organizations in brain science and its research. His influential record label Dim Mak, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2021, is known for being a launching pad for the careers of prominent acts like Bloc Party, The Chainsmokers, Bloody Beetroots, The Kills, Zedd, and Diplo. Most recently, Aoki created the A0K1VERSE, an NFT membership community, powered by the Passport, that welcomes his fans to both virtual and real-world experiences. In whatever space Steve Aoki enters, the multi-hyphenate innovator continues to set trends and inspire creativity on a global level.

Stray Kids is JYP Entertainment’s 8-member boy band formed in March 2018. All members are talented in producing, vocals, rap, and performance, and have been credited for writing and producing the majority of Stray Kids’ unique discography.

Stray Kids were crowned Top K-Pop Album winners at the recent 2023 BBMAs, and Best K-Pop winners at the 2023 VMAs with recent full-length album 5-STAR. In addition, they were the first 4th generation K-pop boy group to complete a 5-stop, 10-show dome tour in South Korea and Japan in 2023.

Not only did they debut four consecutive albums as No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart, Stray Kids also became the 2nd K-Pop male group in history to enter the Billboard HOT 100 chart with recent release “LALALALA.” To this date, Stray Kids have amassed over 6.5 billion total Spotify streams and 12 music videos with over 100 million views.

The transformation to global dominators didn’t happen overnight. While Stray Kids earned the title of JYPE’s first million-selling artist with NOEASY in 2021, they tripled this record the following year and became JYPE’s first triple million-selling artist with MAXIDENT, only to become JYPE’s first quintuple million-selling artist the next year with 5-STAR. 5-STAR broke K-pop history with over 5.31 million stock pre-orders and sold 4.61 million copies during the first week of sales, which, at the time of, were highest in K-pop history.

The meaning of “Stray Kids” is not that they are lost; but rather they break and escape from tradition, formalities, and the old system. The band expresses their unique identity and truthfulness through their musical works, which skillfully illustrate what they know best – their personal stories. Stray Kids bulldozes through all geographical and cultural boundaries, allowing them to resonate deeply with global listeners.

As Walmart’s global CTO, Suresh sets the company’s technical strategy, combining advances in computing with the company’s strengths in delivering the best customer experiences. As the global CDO, he leads the team in building tools and systems to digitally transform our business operations, using the scale and power of our data to deliver a competitive advantage while improving the productivity of our associates.

Suresh’s organization includes technologists from across Walmart that power all of our global business segments – Walmart U.S., Sam’s Club and Walmart International. He also oversees Walmart’s business services, data, platforms and information security organizations, along with teams developing services and products to power end-to-end inventory management, drive differentiated experiences and enable revenue generation.

Swati Sharma is the Editor-in-Chief and publisher of Vox, the premier explanatory journalism network at Vox Media, the leader in modern media. In this role, she oversees the site’s editorial vision and business strategy as the network reaches wider audiences in more places and in more formats than ever before.

Sharma has previously spent her career at legacy news organizations, most recently as a managing editor at The Atlantic, where she oversaw digital coverage through a pandemic, a racial reckoning, two years of Trump’s presidency, and a historic election. Before that, she spent more than four years at The Washington Post, where she was the Deputy General Assignment Editor working on breaking news during President Trump’s first year in office. Prior to that, Sharma was The Post’s foreign and national security digital editor, coordinating cross-departmental efforts to maximize the speed, reach and visual impact of international coverage. She helped manage the section’s daily digital report and coverage of breaking news stories, from terror attacks in Paris and Brussels to the rise of the Islamic State.

Sharma spent three years at The Boston Globe, where she covered nightlife, hyperlocal news and coordinated live blog coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing, which was cited in the Globe’s Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. Sharma grew up in the Bay Area, loves to travel, speaks Hindi and is a passionate fan of Indian cinema. She graduated summa cum laude from Northeastern University.

Takashi Yamazaki is a Japanese filmmaker and visual effects supervisor. Known for his blockbusters with advanced visual effects, Yamazaki is considered a leading filmmaker in the Japanese film industry. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, eight Japanese Academy Awards, five Nikkan Sports Film Awards, two Hochi Film Awards, and an Asian Film Award. His films have collectively grossed over $523 million worldwide.

Yamazaki developed an interest in filmmaking and visual effects after watching “Star Wars” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (both 1977). Starting his career in the industry at Shirogumi in 1986, he later made his feature film debut with “Juvenile” (2000). After directing “Returner” (2002), Yamazaki gained recognition with his third film, “Always: Sunset on Third Street” (2005), which won twelve awards at the 29th Japanese Academy Awards. He then moved onto direct several film adaptations of popular anime, novels, and manga, including “Space Battleship Yamato” (2010), “Friends: Mononoke Shima no Naki” (2011), “The Eternal Zero” (2013), and “Stand by Me Doraemon” (2014) respectively; the latter two films earned a total of nine awards at the 38th Japanese Academy Awards. These were followed by “Parasyte” (2014), “Fueled: The Man They Called Pirate” (2016), “The Great War of Archimedes” (2019), “Dragon Quest: Your Story” (2019), “Lupin III: The First” (2019), and “Stand by Me Doraemon 2” (2020), “Yokaipedia” (2022). Yamazaki’s acclaimed film, “Godzilla Minus One”, was released in Japan in November 2023 and in the United States the next month. In 2024, he and his team became the first Japanese production crew ever to receive an Academy Award nomination for, and win, Best Visual Effects.

As Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Takeshi Numoto is responsible for leading worldwide marketing, inclusive of product marketing, brand, advertising, market research, events and communications for all of Microsoft’s products and services.

Numoto’s tenure at Microsoft has been marked by his instrumental role in the creation of new business models. His innovative strategies have modernized the company’s marketing and commerce capabilities, establishing a connected ecosystem of sales and marketing that harnesses data to optimize customer journeys.

In his previous roles, Numoto supported the growth of the company’s commercial product portfolio and its business transformation towards the cloud.

Prior to joining Microsoft in 1997, Numoto served in the Japanese government’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

Numoto holds a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Tokyo and an MBA from Stanford University.

LAURIE LAM
Laurie Lam is Chief Brand Officer at e.l.f. Beauty, a multi-branded portfolio which includes namesake brand e.l.f. Cosmetics, e.l.f. SKIN, Naturium, Well People, and Keys Soulcare. She is responsible for e.l.f.’s global brand strategy, driving growth across all categories, as well as championing their mission to make the best of beauty accessible to every eye, lip, face, and paw.

With nearly 20 years of experience building global brands, Ms. Lam is an accomplished business leader and dynamic marketer in the beauty industry. Prior to joining e.l.f. Beauty, she was at L’Oréal where she held several leadership positions within the group’s Professional Products Division and Consumer Products Division in the United States, France, and Asia-Pacific. Her experience spans across marketing, e-commerce and digital, acquisitions and business development, and innovation.

TARANG AMIN
Tarang Amin has been the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of e.l.f. Beauty since 2014. A dynamic, passionate and purpose-driven leader, Tarang has been leading innovation and unleashing the superpowers of high performance teams to drive growth for world-class consumer brands for over 30 years.

After taking the company public (NYSE:ELF) in 2016 in one of the most successful beauty IPOs, Tarang has grown the business over 8x, strategically expanded into a multi-brand portfolio that includes e.l.f. Cosmetics, e.l.f. SKIN, Naturium, Well People and Keys Soulcare, and set records on new digital platforms. Tarang’s commitment to building teams that mirror the consumers they serve is reflected not only in e.l.f. Beauty’s employee base, but also in the Board of Directors where e.l.f. Beauty is 1 of only 4 public companies out of nearly 4,200 in the U.S. with a Board of Directors that has at least 2/3 women and at least 1/3 diverse.

Previously, Tarang served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Schiff Nutrition, building enterprise value from $190 million to $1.5 billion and Vice President, General Manager of The Clorox Company’s $1.7 billion Litter, Food and Charcoal businesses. He began his career in brand management at Procter & Gamble, after earning both his Bachelors in International Policy and MBA from Duke University.

As Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer, Tariq Hassan leads all marketing efforts — including digital, media, CRM, brand content and engagement, consumer insights, and menu strategy — to create holistic, compelling brand experiences for customers of the 14,000-plus McDonald’s restaurants in the U.S. His team leverages iconic brand and digital capabilities to ensure McDonald’s continues to deliver powerful experiences that create authentic connections with customers.

Prior to joining McDonald’s, Tariq spent more than 20 years in global marketing, communications, innovation and insights with premier brands. He began his career in advertising and was a founding partner of the largest ad agency startup in U.S. history. He then held marketing and brand leadership roles with HP, Omnicom Group, and Bank of America before joining Petco as Chief Marketing Officer. There, he was recognized with the Adweek Brand Genius Award, the marketing and branding world’s consummate honor, for his bold thinking and imaginative approach. His leadership in repositioning the company from a pet supply store to a category-defining lifestyle pet brand was instrumental in Petco’s successful IPO in 2021.

A values-driven leader who is passionate about creating diverse and inclusive teams, Tariq was named an Adweek DEI Champion. He served as the executive sponsor for Petco’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEI&B) advisory council and LGBTQ employee resource group, and he was a board member of the Adweek DE&I and ANA CMO Growth councils. Since 2014, he has sat on the global board of Education for Employment, a non-governmental organization that empowers marginalized youth across the Middle East and North Africa. Additionally, he worked with the Obama administration on efforts to counter-message young Americans at risk to religious extremism and systemic discrimination.

Tariq earned an honors bachelor’s degree from Western University in Ontario and a master’s degree in in

Terry Tang is the Executive Editor of the Los Angeles Times, overseeing the newsroom and the opinion section. She was appointed to her interim role Jan. 25, becoming the first female editor in the paper’s 142-year history.

Tang joined The Times in July 2019 as a deputy Op-Ed editor after two years at the American Civil Liberties Union, where she served as director of publications and editorial. She was named editorial page editor in 2022.

Before that, she worked at the New York Times for 20 years in many positions: as deputy editorial page editor; op-ed editor; assistant editorial page editor; editorial writer; deputy technology editor; metro desk major beats editor; and co-founder and editor of Room for Debate, an online platform for rapid-response commentary. Prior to that, she was an editorial writer and columnist at the Seattle Times and a reporter at the Seattle Weekly.

Tang graduated from Yale with a bachelor’s degree in economics and received a J.D. from New York University School of Law. She was a Nieman fellow at Harvard in 1992-93. Her family immigrated to Los Angeles from Taiwan, and she grew up in Gardena.

Thomas joined Google in November 2018 as the CEO of Google Cloud. Prior to Google, Thomas spent 22 years at Oracle, where most recently he was President of Product Development. Before that, Thomas worked at McKinsey as a business analyst and engagement manager. His nearly 30 years of experience have given him a deep knowledge of engineering, enterprise relationships, and leadership of large organizations.

Thomas’ degrees include, an MBA in Administration and Management from Stanford University as an Arjay Miller Scholar and a BSEE in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. Thomas serves as a member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council and Princeton University School of Engineering Advisory Council.

Tim Flores grew up just outside of Chicago with his parents, who immigrated from the Philippines in 1975. His first experience in professional kitchens was polishing dishes at GT Fish & Oyster between college semesters in Iowa. After graduation, Flores returned to Chicago and transitioned to GT’s kitchen, where he met his future wife and business partner, Genie Kwon, as she ran the restaurant’s pastry wing. Kwon, a native of New Orleans, graduated from Newbury College’s culinary management program in Massachusetts. By the time she found herself working alongside Flores, Kwon had cut her teeth at Flour Bakery & Café, Nobu 57, and Eleven Madison Park.

In 2014, Flores moved on to work as a line cook at Senza while Kwon served as the pastry chef at BOKA and netted a Jean Banchet Rising Pastry Chef of the Year award. In 2016 they helped open Oriole-a fine dining restaurant that earned 2 Michelin stars in its first year.

In 2018, Flores and Kwon left to conceptualize a space of their own. After two and a half years, they built that space in the Ukrainian Village and named it Kasama, meaning “together” in Tagalog. Kasama is a reflection of both Genie and Tim’s culinary backgrounds as a bakery and restaurant that serves modern Filipino food inspired by the food Tim grew up eating.

Tirana Hassan is the Executive Director at Human Rights Watch, one of the world’s leading international human rights organizations, which operates in more than 90 countries and has over 500 staff members.

She is a qualified social worker and lawyer who has spent the past two decades working with individuals and communities to pursue their rights and fighting for justice. She was a founding member of a refugee legal service during Australia’s refugee crisis in 2000 before working across the globe in international humanitarian operations specializing in child protection and civilian protection in complex emergencies. Tirana has worked for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Save the Children, amongst others, across East and West Africa and South and Southeast Asia.

Tirana specializes in human rights protection in conflicts and crises. Between 2010-2015, she worked as a senior researcher in Human Rights Watch’s Emergencies Division, where she carried out dozens of investigations in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. She later served as director of Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Program, where she led teams of investigators and an inter-disciplinary team that advanced innovative research methodologies for human rights investigations and evidence collection. She also served on the organization’s interim executive team. She has authored reports and op-eds for major publications worldwide.

Tirana graduated with honors in both social work and law in Australia and holds a master’s in international human rights law from Oxford University.

VIET THANH NGUYEN
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and numerous other awards. His most recent publication is A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial. His other books are the sequel to The Sympathizer, The Committed; a short story collection, The Refugees; Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction); and Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America. He has also published Chicken of the Sea, a children’s book written in collaboration with his son, Ellison. He is a University Professor at the University of Southern California. A recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations, he is also the editor of The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives.

HOA XUANDE
“Hoa Xuande is an extraordinary actor and breakout talent.

Xuande is the lead in the highly anticipated series THE SYMPATHIZER for A24 and HBO which will premiere on April 14 and roll out weekly episodes. The series hails from visionary director Park Chan-wook and is based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name and is set during the Vietnam war, the series follows ‘The Captain’ (Xuande) a North Vietnamese spy in the South Vietnamese army, who stays embedded in a South Vietnamese community in exile in the United States. The series also stars Robert Downey Jr., Sandra Oh and Fred Nguyen Kahn.

The Australian-native, Xuande’s other credits include the Cineflix series LAST KING OF THE CROSS opposite Tim Roth; COWBOY BEBOP for Netflix; and TOP OF THE LAKE: CHINA GIRL opposite Elisabeth Moss. He is a Graduate of WAAPA (other alumni include Hugh Jackman and Jai Courtney) who also speaks fluent French and Vietnamese. In addition to acting, he’s been a surfer for over 15 years, he is a fantastic singer (Baritone/Tenor Range) and also is a skilled guitarist.

Xuande currently resides in Sydney.”

PARK CHAN-WOOK
PARK Chan-wook is a South Korean film director, screenwriter, and producer who is among the most acclaimed iconoclastic auteurs in the world. Park has constructed a unique cinematic world with his unconventional storytelling, fascinating characters and sensual visuals. He is perhaps best known for his “Vengeance Trilogy”, consisting of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. He became celebrated as a global auteur with Oldboy (2003), winner of the Grand Prix at the 57th Cannes Film Festival. In the years since, he has continued to receive worldwide acclaim with films such as Thirst (2009), which won the Jury Prize at the 62 nd Cannes Film Festival; Stoker (2013), his Hollywood debut; and The Handmaiden (2016) had its world premiere in competition at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival to universally rapturous reviews. BAFTA award-winning limited television series The Little Drummer Girl (2018), based on the le Carré novel, premiered at the London Film Festival. He directed and Executive Produced the series for BBC and AMC. Park also produced the internationally acclaimed Snowpiercer, directed by Bong Joon Ho and serves as Executive Producer on the ongoing TV series. In 2022, he came back with his first feature film in six years, Decision to Leave. He is currently co-showrunning a HBO TV series, The Sympathizer starring Robert Downey Jr.

Weijia Jiang is CBS News’ Senior White House Correspondent based in Washington, D.C. In 2023, she became the first woman of color to be elected to serve as the President of the White House Correspondents Association. Her term begins in 2025. Jiang’s reporting is featured across all CBS News broadcasts and platforms, including the “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell,” “CBS Mornings” and the CBS News Streaming Network, CBS News’ premier 24/7 anchored streaming news service.

Jiang has covered the White House beat since 2018, including the transition between the Trump and Biden administrations. She has also reported extensively on the increased violence against the AAPI community and the resulting policy changes. In 2023, Jiang won an Emmy award for her contributions to “CBS Mornings.” She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and their two children, Frankie Mei and Jack Li.

WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA WEST
We are the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW), a labor union representing the thousands of creators who write scripted series, features, news programs, and other content. Founded in 1933, the Guild negotiates and administers contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of our members. We are involved in a wide range of programs that advance the interests of writers, and are active in public policy and legislative matters on the local, national, and international levels.

WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA EAST
The Writers Guild of America, East, AFL-CIO (WGAE) is a labor union representing thousands of members who write content for motion pictures, television, news and online media. The Guild negotiates and administers contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of its members; conducts programs, seminars and events on issues of interest to writers; and presents writers’ views to various bodies of government.

Alyssa Thompson is a professional soccer player, who currently plays for Angel City FC and the U.S. Women’s National Team. She was the #1 pick in the 2023 NWSL Draft and the first high schooler ever drafted. At the 2023 Women’s World Cup, she was the 2nd-youngest player to ever compete in the tournament in USWNT history. Along with her sister, Gisele, in 2022 she became the first high school athlete to sign an NIL partnership with Nike. Additionally, she has current partnerships with Stifel Financial, BODYARMOR, Fanatics, Subway, and TOCA Football.

ATEEZ, is an eight-member South Korean boy group that debuted on October 24, 2018 under KQ Entertainment. The eight members of ATEEZ are HONGJOONG, SEONGHWA, YUNHO, YEOSANG, SAN, MINGI, WOOYOUNG, and JONGHO. The group established themselves as ‘Global Artists’ early on in their career, selling out their first world tour only four months after their debut. Known for standout performances that combine runway aesthetics with a dynamic discography on stage, the octet have turned storytelling into a full musical experience.

Their reputation as top performers led to multiple sold out shows all over the globe in every tour. ATEEZ has collected multiple achievements as a million-seller group, receiving recognition as a ‘Top Global Performer’ and ‘Artist of the Year’ at various award ceremonies. Their most recent release, the second studio album ‘THE WORLD EP. FIN : WILL’ debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 and charted for six weeks. The same album broke through on the UK Official Charts,
peaking at No.2 and charting for 13 weeks (at the time of writing), making them the only 4th generation K-
pop boy group to do so.

Starting in October of 2022 and spanning over a year, ATEEZ took ‘THE FELLOWSHIP : BREAK THE WALL’ tour through Seoul, North America, Japan, Europe, Latin America, and Asia, bringing in a total of over 400,000 fans. Alongside multiple sold out stops during the arena world tour, the group held their first stadium show during the Latin American leg of the tour in August 2023 at the Allianz Parque, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In 2024, ATEEZ was announced in the lineup for Coachella, making them the first K-pop boy group to perform at the festival.

Hoa Xuande is an extraordinary actor and breakout talent. Xuande is the lead in the highly anticipated series THE SYMPATHIZER for A24 and HBO which will premiere on April 14 and roll out weekly episodes. The series hails from visionary director Park Chan-wook and is based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name and is set during the Vietnam war, the series follows ‘The Captain’ (Xuande) a North Vietnamese spy in the South Vietnamese army, who stays embedded in a South Vietnamese community in exile in the United States. The series also stars Robert Downey Jr., Sandra Oh and Fred Nguyen Kahn. An Australian-native, Xuande’s other credits include the Cineflix series LAST KING OF THE CROSS opposite Tim Roth; COWBOY BEBOP for Netflix; and TOP OF THE LAKE: CHINA GIRL opposite Elisabeth Moss. He is a Graduate of WAAPA (other alumni include Hugh Jackman and Jai Courtney) who also speaks fluent French and Vietnamese. In addition to acting, he’s been a surfer for over 15 years, he is a fantastic singer (Baritone/Tenor Range) and also is a skilled guitarist. Xuande currently resides in Sydney.

Kim Shui is a New York City based womenswear brand that seeks to show a more expansive vision of who the American woman can be – centering women who have been traditionally sidelined and using clothes to start conversations that bridge cultures and increase connectivity.

Her eponymous New York-based womenswear label has since dressed the likes of Kylie Jenner, Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber, Solange Knowles, Cardi B, Gigi Hadid, Mary J Blige, Megan Thee Stallion, and more.

Kim was most recently featured on NBC’s Today Show and named one of Time Magazine’s Next Generation Leaders and is a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Finalist. She was also part of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and has collaborated with industry giants like Nike and Jordan Brand.

Shui continues to redefine the narrative of American fashion, inspiring women worldwide to embrace their unique stories and stand boldly at the forefront of their own narratives.

My goal is to bring jazz and classical music to my generation through a more accessible road,” says Laufey (pronounced lāy-vāy). Since the September 2023 release of her GRAMMY-winning second album Bewitched, the composer, singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist has proved how staying true to oneself can result in creating a space where people can find themselves. Bewitched has been wildly successful around the world, winning the GRAMMY Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, appearing on multiple year-end best-of lists, sparking an immediately sold-out tour, setting a record for the biggest debut week by a Jazz album on Spotify, and reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s Jazz charts. The Los Angeles-based, Icelandic-Chinese Laufey grew up between Reykjavik and Washington, D.C., and she studied cello at the Berklee College of Music. Her 2022 debut Everything I Know About Love introduced her “hopeless romantic” side, while Bewitched reflects her more mature outlook while writing about, as she puts it, “the magic and luster unique to youthful love.” In 2023 she also released A Night at the Symphony, a live album recorded with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra; she performed with the LA Phil, National Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra; she collaborated with artists like Beabadoobee and Norah Jones. Bewitched: The Goddess Edition, which adds four tracks to Laufey’s 2023 smash, is set for release in April.

Natasha Liu Bordizzo (born August 25th, 1994), is an Australian actress. She was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. Her mother of Chinese descent and her father of Italian descent. She began studying a Bachelor of Law/ Bachelor of Communication before being cast in a leading role in Netflix’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016) with no prior acting experience.

In 2019, she portrayed the character of Helena in Netflix’s successful teen drama The Society. In 2021, she portrayed the character of Julia in Amazon Prime’s thriller The Voyeurs, and in 2022 she played Heather, the neighbor-turned-vampire in Netflix’s action-comedy Day Shift. Natasha gained prominence in 2023 for her starring role as Mandalorian Warrior Sabine Wren in the Disney+ series Ahsoka.

Zhang, who had been the undisputed No. 1 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking since her triumph over Gabriela Ruffels in the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur, won in her professional debut on June 4 just nine days after making the announcement that she was leaving Stanford and joining the play-for-pay ranks. Zhang, the first player to win an LPGA Tour event in her pro debut since Beverly Hanson in 1951, defeated 2018 USA Curtis Cup competitor Jennifer Kupcho on the second playoff hole to capture the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J. This came just under two weeks after becoming the first player to win multiple NCAA Division I women’s individual titles. Zhang had spent a record 141 consecutive weeks atop the Women’s Amateur Golf Ranking. Later in 2023, Zhang represented the United States in the Solheim Cup in Spain. This will be her sixth consecutive start in the U.S. Women’s Open, and second as a professional. Zhang surpassed Leona Maguire for the most weeks ever in the top spot in the WAGR on April 19. In 2021, Zhang won the U.S. Girls’ Junior to become the eighth player to have won both the U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Girls’ Junior titles, but the first to capture the latter second. On April 1 of 2023, she defeated Jenny Bae in a two-hole, sudden-death playoff at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. In the fall of 2022, she won the McCormack Medal as the No. 1 player in the WAGR for a third consecutive season. In her freshman season at Stanford University (2021-22), she helped the Cardinal to the team NCAA title at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. She also was named the Annika Award winner for 2022 as the nation’s top female collegiate golfer, becoming the second consecutive freshman from Stanford (Rachel Heck) to achieve that feat. She finished her Stanford career (two seasons) with a school-record (men and women) 12 wins, surpassing Tiger Woods, Patrick Rodgers and Maverick McNealy. Zhang went 4-0-1 for the USA in the 2021 Curtis Cup Match at Conwy Golf Club in Wales, leading the side to a 12.5-7.5 victory to retain the Cup. She then helped the USA retain the Cup at Merion Golf Club a week after the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles. In 2019, Zhang helped the USA win a mixed team gold medal in the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

Steven Lee is a Partner at SV Angel, where he has been investing in seed-stage founders across various sectors, including AI, enterprise, fintech, and consumer technology. In recent years, he has partnered with over 35 AI companies, including Modular, Captions, Skild AI, and others still in stealth.

Before joining SV Angel, Steven was a Director at Bain Capital Ventures, working with portfolio companies like Clockwise and Magical. He was also the founder of Bain Capital Ventures’ data-driven sourcing efforts. Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Steven was an early member of Twitter’s Global Market Insight & Analytics team over a decade ago.

Steven is the proud son of two immigrants from South Korea and grew up in Los Angeles’ Koreatown district. As one of the few Korean-descent partners in the VC industry, he actively supports Gold House, a non-profit organization that empowers and unites Asian Pacific creators and businesses.

He holds a B.A. in economics from New York University. During Steven’s time as a student at NYU, he worked multiple part-time jobs to self-finance his education and was a member of the NCAA Fencing team. He is based in San Francisco with his wife and newborn daughter.

ZIAD AHMED
Ziad Ahmed is a 25-year-old social entrepreneur, speaker, and strategist — who is the Head of Next Gen @ UTA Marketing.

As a teenager, in 2016, Ziad founded JUV Consulting, a Gen Z company connecting clients with the zeitgeist. JUV then worked with over 30 Fortune 500 companies, was profiled by the New York Times, launched major purpose-driven media campaigns, and launched the first-ever major industry conference with only Gen Z speakers, ZCON. Because of JUV, Ziad was named to the Forbes #30Under30 list when he was 19-years-old. In 2020, Refinery29 called JUV “the largest and most popular Gen Z agency.”

In 2024, United Talent Agency acquired JUV Consulting, forming the Next Gen Practice of UTA Marketing, where Ziad is continuing to lead his team’s award-winning work at the intersection of content, community, and culture.

Ziad also graduated from Yale in 2021, where he focused his research on social media’s impact on policy-making. He speaks often on the power of his generation, and he seeks to use his voice to push the envelope forward wherever/however possible. He has spoken everywhere from Cannes Lions to the White House to VidCon — has been featured everywhere from CNN to VICE to the Guardian.

As a result of Ziad’s leadership within his generation, he was selected in 2023 as an inaugural Obama USA Leader by the Obama Foundation. WWD also named Ziad one of the world’s “Most Influential ESG Leaders” in 2023. Ziad’s “why” is working towards a world where more of us have a seat at the table — where we all have the agency to build our own tables. Overwhelmingly though, he’s just another Gen Zer spending way too much time on TikTok. You can learn more about him via @ziadahmed, but he is in corporate spaces rather a lot — so he has also been named a “LinkedIn Top Voice” in case that’s useful.

SHAINA ZAFAR
Shaina Zafar, 24, is the Co-founder/Chief Marketing Officer at JUV Consulting. She is an unapologetic American-Muslim and proud daughter of first-gen Pakistani parents.

At JUV, she focused on community building between clients and partners, thought leadership, and curated community dinners and events. She has authored Gen Z yellowpapers at the company ranging from topics on Gen Z Yellow to The Future of WebZ (“Web3”) and oversees their weekly trends newsletter, The Screenshot with a subscriber base of 5,000+ business professionals.

She is a graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, as an International Relations major with a focus on the Islamic World and minors in South Asian Studies and Consumer Psychology. She wrote her thesis on impactful ESG practices for businesses. She now serves on the Asian Alumni Board and Young Alumni Board at Penn and is on Yahoo MAKERS Board of Advisors.

She has spoken for major brands like Mondelez, L’Oréal, and KPMG as well as conferences like the U.S. Travel Tourism Conference and Cannes Lions. She has been quoted in the likes of The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Business of Fashion.

Every year on her birthday, she makes a Spotify playlist with 365 songs, customized with playlist covers. If she isn’t exploring new music, you can find her searching up new fonts, cooking at odd hours of the night, or doomscrolling on @ShainaZafar!

Zohreen Shah is a Los Angeles-based national reporter for ABC News for all platforms including “Good Morning America,” “World News Tonight,” “ABC News Live” and “Nightline.” She has extensively covered the plight of U.S. citizens trying to leave Gaza and the Arab and Muslim communities’ reaction to President Biden’s Middle East policy. She started at ABC News closely covering Kamala Harris and Andrew Yang, traveling to half the states in the country over less than a year. She landed multiple exclusives with California Governor Gavin Newsom right before his high-profile recall election, including the only sit-down interview with Newsom and Senator Elizabeth Warren, and every major Republican challenger in the race. She also frequently covers entertainment stories, including interviews with Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Priyanka Chopra, Sean Penn, and Malala Yousafzai. She is passionate about bringing stories about her South Asian community to the network, covering Eid, the country’s largest Ramadan food festival, Diwali and the first large “Holi” celebration live to a national morning show.